GUELPH – Caring for our aging parents and grandparents at home will require more support for home caregivers – not $6 billion more in unnecessary and unaffordable Conservative corporate tax cuts, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said today.
“Every senior and medical professional we meet shares our view that home care is an intrinsic component of our health care system,” said Mr. Ignatieff, while visiting St. Joseph’s Health Centre in Guelph as part of the Liberal Express summer tour. “While the Conservatives have done nothing to acknowledge the work of unpaid home caregivers, the Liberal Party is committed to increasing support for them and improving Canadian healthcare.”
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. Currently, nearly 3 million Canadians provide care to a family member at home. Liberals believe that greater supports are needed to allow more seniors to receive care at home, while easing financial strain on caregivers who are forced to work less.
“We’ll do things differently than the Conservatives. Instead of giving away $6 billion in additional corporate tax cuts, we’ll use some of that funding to support our seniors and help caregivers cope,” said Mr. Ignatieff. “We want our seniors to have the option of receiving care in the dignity of their own homes instead of in the hospital. Home care is less costly to the taxpayer, and if we can ease the financial hardship on families, it’s a net benefit to our economy.”
An increasing number of Canadians are caring for aging parents while many are also supporting college-age children. This “sandwich generation” is coming under increasing financial strain, especially as interest rates rise, compounded by the fact that Canadians have an average debt of $41,740 each – the worst of 20 advanced countries in the OECD.
Organizations like the Canadian Cancer Society, MS Society, Alzheimer Society of Canada, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada have called for greater leadership to support family caregivers and homecare. Measures they recommend include improving the Compassionate Care Benefit, improved tax benefits for caregivers, more training of homecare professionals, support to help renovate homes, and programs to provide respite for family members.
“Today, I saw firsthand, how the health care of our seniors depends both on medical professionals and home caregivers,” concluded Mr. Ignatieff. “Liberals believe in personal responsibility; we believe in family responsibility. But what distinguishes us from the Conservatives is that we recognize no family can do it alone.”
