NDP says PCs have broken promise on new care homes

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This article was published 23/05/2018 (2164 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Pallister government came under fire Thursday for failing to create new personal care home beds in its first two years in office.

The only project to be completed in the last government fiscal year was a 100-bed facility in Morden that was initiated by the former government, NDP Leader Wab Kinew said.

“They haven’t created any new beds since they’ve taken office. They had an election promise to create 1,200 spaces. It looks like that’s a broken promise,” he said of the Progressive Conservatives.

With an aging population driving up demand for nursing home spaces, no new beds have opened in Winnipeg in the last two years.

The NDP released the results of a freedom-of-information request showing a wait list of 341 people for nursing home beds in Southern Health region (encompassing Steinbach, Morden, Winkler, Carman, Portage la Prairie and seven First Nation communities) and 211 in Prairie Mountain Health (which includes Brandon, Dauphin, Swan River and the entire southwest corner of the province).

The Progressive Conservatives axed an 80-bed care home project in Lac du Bonnet when they came to office, because of the cost. The PCs refused to sign off on any construction project that required government funding of more than $133,000 per bed. That dictate also led to the delay or abandonment of two Winnipeg nursing home projects.

The PCs promised during the 2016 election campaign to building 1,200 beds over eight years. Kinew said so far, they have little to show for their promise.

A spokesman for Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen accused the Opposition party of making “highly misleading” comments.

Kevin Engstrom said Southern Health is in the midst of completing the schematic design for the Boyne Lodge Personal Care Home in Carman. Similar work is also underway on PCH projects in Steinbach and Winnipeg, he said. And the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority have submitted proposals for an additional 240 and 120 beds, respectively.

“In total, assuming all new beds meet government-mandated requirements, 618 net new PCH beds are in the planning stages for consideration by government for approval, putting us well on our way towards keeping our campaign commitment of 1,200 new PCHs within eight years,” Engstrom said in a statement.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca