Candace Rennick, secretary-treasurer of Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario, noted there is currently a private member’s bill in the Ontario legislature that would increase the hours of care a resident receives each day to four — also a recommendation from the province’s staffing study.
“If the government is serious about staffing in this province, they could make this law this week,” she said.
Government ‘refuses to act’: Union leader
Rennick also said that staff are still being denied access to N95 masks at the West End Villa in Ottawa, a home with an outbreak where 11 residents have died of COVID-19 and there have been 50 confirmed cases in residents and 27 in staff.
“Clearly we have learned nothing from the first wave of this virus and residents and staff are at risk of losing their lives,” Rennick said. “It is unconscionable and completely unacceptable.”
