LETTERS: POLITICIANS ‘SHOULD BE ASHAMED’ OF LTC CARE, DEATHS
Ed. note: The following two letters were sent to MPP Norm Miller, MPP Merrilee Fullerton, Ontario‘s Minister of Long-Term Care, MP Scott Aitchison and MuskokaTODAY.com.
Dear Mr. Miller:
It is time for less talk and more action to enforce LTC regulations and standards.
Current and past governments, their applicable health departments and LTC inspection indifference have apparently — directly or indirectly— contributed to the suffering and deaths of thousands of vulnerable residents through ignorance, incompetence or inaction.
This is not hyperbole, but sad fact.
Canadian politicians and bureaucrats should be ashamed. This situation predates the current pandemic, which has only exacerbated the problem.
If you aren’t familiar with the figures, please read this article:
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5770889
Ontario’s LTC residents can’t afford for their politicians to twiddle their thumbs any longer: their lives are at stake.
Don’t form more committees or appoint commissions to study the issue.
The problem is clear and at least one solution is obvious: immediately insist on proper inspections and strict enforcement of existing regulations.
No more lip service, please!
Disgustedly
Merrill Perret
Port Sydney
“It is said that the measure of a government
is how it treats its poorest and most vulnerable.
By that measure, you continue to fail miserably,
and you should be ashamed.”
In another letter to Merrilee Fullerton, Ontario‘s Minister of Long-Term Care, Perret writes:
Dear Dr. Fullerton:
I am disgusted by the continued lack of action on the part of politicians elected and paid by the people of Ontario to look after the health and welfare of our most vulnerable citizens, mainly seniors.
More commissions, more empty promises, more speeches, and more delays will not solve the long-standing and well-known dangerous issues you tacitly allow to continue in our LTC homes.
We are tired of excuses. Successive governments have known of these problems for years, if not decades, and have done little.
You, and your predecessors and colleagues, must share the responsibility for the deaths of thousands of victims of incompetence and neglect in Ontario LTC homes.
Much as you may wish to, you cannot simply shrug off your own guilt in allowing this to continue. You are ultimately responsible, and you are not doing your job.
I am attaching a copy of a letter I sent yesterday to MPP Norm Miller, MP Scott Aitchison, and our local Muskoka online newspaper.
I urge you to read the CBC article linked in that letter, and truly accept that this tragedy has unfolded in Canada, in Ontario, under your watch.
It is said that the measure of a government is how it treats its poorest and most vulnerable. By that measure, you continue to fail miserably, and you should be ashamed.
Merrill Perret
Port Sydney
