While the Liberal Party wants to help the “sandwich generation” struggling to balance the pressures of caring for both their children and aging parents, the Conservatives want to ignore this trend by undermining the basic information needed to provide home care support, Liberal MP Scott Brison said today.
“The Harper Conservatives have done nothing to improve health care by supporting the work of unpaid caregivers,” said Mr. Brison. “Even though Stephen Harper can gut the census with a stroke of his cabinet pen, he can’t make the growing home care challenge go away, no matter how hard tries.”
Mr. Brison revealed that the Conservatives’ proposed voluntary census removes the question about home care entirely. With an aging population, the number of Canadians who will need home care is projected to rise one-third by 2017, Canada’s 150th birthday. With nearly three million Canadians currently caring for a sick family member at home, the burden on families who are also supporting college-age children, working and saving for retirement is only expected to rise.
“Instead of spending $6 billion on further corporate tax cuts, Liberals will use some of that funding to support our seniors and help caregivers cope,” Mr. Brison said. “Home care is less costly than hospitalization and more dignified for our seniors. If we can ease the financial hardship of caregiving on our families, it’s a win-win for everyone.”
Organizations like the Canadian Cancer Society, MS Society, Alzheimer Society of Canada, VON Canada and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada have called for greater leadership to support family caregivers and home care. Measures they recommend include maintaining the long form census, improving the Compassionate Care Benefit, improved tax benefits for caregivers, more training of home care professionals, support to help renovate homes, and programs to provide respite for family members.
“While the Conservatives are busy gutting the census and running away from the responsibilities our families face, Liberals will address these responsibilities head-on,” said Mr. Brison. “Today, we’re calling on Stephen Harper to look at the facts and recognize that no family can do it alone.”
