VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Party leaders raised a number of issues trying to appeal to voters over the last 36 days, but one economist from SFU says they should have paid more attention to long-term care.
Marjorie Griffin Cohen is a feminist economist with SFU. When she looks back on this quick campaign, she says what stands out most is what wasn’t discussed.
Last year, she was the recipient of the 2020 Charles Taylor Prize for Excellence in Policy Research, making her an expert in building legislation that helps Canadians.
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She was shocked to see no talk of long-term care or pharmacare this election season.
“There’s some money that’s going to go to long-term care workers. And while we use that slogan, ‘The conditions of work’ or “The conditions of care,’ that’s just a slogan. That isn’t what it all is about,” she says.
“You’ve got to have spaces and they’ve got to be in the public sector, and there is no national plan for that.”
Instead, they focused on pandemic recovery, plans for Quebec, truth and reconciliation for Indigenous people, and other talking points. Childcare, housing, and climate change were also important topics.
“There were plenty of things that weren’t discussed and should have been,” she says. “What it should have been was long-term care, but nothing happened here.”
Marjorie Griffin Cohen (@mcohensfu) is the recipient of the 2020 Charles Taylor Prize for Excellence in Policy Research. She is an economist and professor emeritus at Simon Fraser University.
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There should be more funding to support the long-term care workers who have come up against hurdle after hurdle throughout the pandemic. They deserve to know what the federal government is going to do to help them, says Cohen.
All across the country, none of the parties had a plan for coping with staffing shortages within long-term care facilities. Cohen also wants to know how the sector and its struggles will impact the broader economy.
“Altogether, the whole care sector was underdiscussed,” she says. “It’s too bad.”
With files from Kier Junos