On Thursday 8 April 2021, four members of the Lakeshore Social Action Committee, Margaret Godbeer, Susan Czarnocki, Selina Ann Rooker-Sanchez and Christopher Thomson, met on Zoom with Liberal MNAs M. Enrico Ciccone (Marquette) and Mme Monique Sauvé (Fabre; Official Opposition Critic for Seniors & Informal Caregivers) to discuss the challenges we see in the West Island in providing quality senior care, both in residences and at home.

We discussed the lag in Québec/Canada in percent of resources devoted to long-term care compared with other developed countries and the chronic understaffing of both institutional and at-home sectors, with related issues of education, pay and employment stability. The question of the future use of the Herron facility was addressed, with the difficulty for the public sector in matching the price the private owners of Herron might be seeking. It was felt that the Government’s plans for new Maisons des aînés would not in itself address the most critical issue in the public health sector, that of staffing and training.

To complement the parliamentary work of the two MNAs, the latter strongly encouraged our group to use all available means to keep these issues live in the public eye, such as letter-writing to the Press and officials and social media posts. It requires a long-term effort to move the needle on these senior care needs.

• Christopher Thomson, 2021-04-08