We will work collaboratively with patients, caregivers, and provincial and territorial governments to develop national care standards for home care and long-term care, regulated by the same principles as the Canada Health Act. By doing so, a New Democrat government would legally protect access to home care and long-term care services, and ensure a consistent quality of care across the country.

This process will be backed by funding tied to meeting these standards, and include determining a core basket of home care services that will be available and covered by provincial insurance plans, and setting minimum national care standards for long- term care residents. We will also work with the provinces to develop and support workforce strategies and violence prevention to recruit and protect front-line staff, and ensure a safe working environment for personal support and health care workers.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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Introduce a new Multigenerational Home Renovation tax credit to help families add a secondary unit to their home for an immediate or extended family member. Families will be able to claim a 15% tax credit for up to $50,000 in renovation and construction costs, saving up to $7,500.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Expand the Canada Caregiver Credit into a refundable, tax-free benefit. This will help 200,000 more Canadians qualify, and increase support for 448,000 people.

Make the Canada Caregiver Credit refundable, allowing caregivers to receive up to $1,250 per year.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Double the Home Accessibility Tax Credit, to $20,000, putting up to $1,500 back in the of Canadians who need it.

Establish an expert panel to provide recommendations for establishing an Aging at Home Benefit.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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● Provide a dedicated Seniors’ Care Transfer to provinces and territories for specific improvements to home, community and LTC separate from the federal health transfers.

● Shift LTC policy towards aging in place by having the Seniors’ Care Transfer include transformative investment in home and community care (such as naturally occurring retirement communities, co-housing models, and enhanced home support programs).

● Increase the proportion of LTC investment in community and home-based care from 13% to 35% in order to match the OECD average.

● End for-profit LTC facilities and reorient LTC towards community-based models.

● Make the Caregiver Tax Credit a refundable tax credit so that family caregivers have more flexibility (from its current earned tax credit status).

● Change the Home Renovation Tax Credit from $10,000 per household to $10,000 per person for more people to age in place.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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● Ensure the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) remains robust and adaptive to changing needs and circumstances by increasing over time the target income replacement rate for income received during working years, as needed.

● Regulate the CPP Investment Board to require divestment of coal, oil and gas shares and ensure that all investments are ethical and promote environmental sustainability.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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To deliver these results all across the country, a we will lead a National Seniors Strategy that will work with the provinces, territories and Indigenous governments to make seniors health care a priority, reduce isolation and tackle seniors’ poverty. This will include a funded national dementia strategy, and an elder abuse prevention plan developed with seniors to put an end to abuse and neglect in our communities.

Our national pharmacare for all plan will provide prescription medicine to all seniors, saving seniors hundreds of dollars every year and ensuring that no one needs to choose between medicine and other essentials, and our dental care plan will mean that uninsured seniors can go to the dentist when they need to, without facing costly bills.

Seniors deserve a retirement that’s financially secure and dignified. And no senior should miss out on benefits they qualify for because of a paperwork oversight – but that’s exactly what’s happening to tens of thousands of seniors today. We’ll put in place a one-year delay to help seniors at risk of having their GIS benefits suspended for being unable to make the required income statement.

Many seniors are themselves caregivers to a loved one, or rely on the caregiving of family members. In order to help make life a little more affordable for caregivers, who are overwhelmingly women, we’ll make the Canada Caregiver Tax Credit refundable. This will provide thousands of dollars to the most low- income caregivers, many of whom have given up work completely to care for a loved one.

Every senior should have a safe and affordable place to call home. Our commitment to create half a million affordable housing units in the next decade will include accessible housing that will increase choices for seniors. We’ll also support connection to community and tackle seniors’ isolation by improving seniors’ access to technology and support to stay connected with family, providing more funding for community programs that do outreach to seniors to combat isolation, working with cities to make transit more affordable and convenient, creating more community recreation spaces, and supporting innovative housing solutions like intergenerational co-housing.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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1. Fully fund the National Dementia Strategy

● In collaboration with health professionals and provincial/territorial governments, develop and fund a national dementia strategy. The strategy would support research, improve quality of life for patients and caregivers, and educate the public to increase awareness and reduce stigma.

● Continue ongoing funding for frailty research to improve care for vulnerable older adults while investing in new R&D in the ageing and age-tech sector.

● Meet the aspirational goals of the National Dementia Strategy by increasing overall Canadian investment from $50 million to $150 million over five years in the field of dementia research.

2. Ensure Seniors’ Violence and Abuse Prevention

● Establish a Federal Office of the Seniors’ Advocate to provide systemic oversight and leadership on issues related to the current needs of Canadian seniors, as well as provide insight, analysis, and direction to the government on the future needs of our ageing population.

● Develop a National Elder Abuse and Neglect Strategy to raise awareness and provide funding for instances of elder abuse and neglect across the Country.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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New Democrats believe that families need access to quality home care and long-term care no matter where they live. To that end, we will end private, for-profit long-term care and bring long-term care homes under the public umbrella, beginning with the federally-owned long term care company Revera.

We will work collaboratively with patients, caregivers, and provincial and territorial governments to develop national care standards for home care and long-term care, regulated by the same principles as the Canada Health Act. By doing so, a New Democrat government would legally protect access to home care and long-term care services, and ensure a consistent quality of care across the country.

This process will be backed by funding tied to meeting these standards, and include determining a core basket of home care services that will be available and covered by provincial insurance plans, and setting minimum national care standards for long- term care residents. We will also work with the provinces to develop and support workforce strategies and violence prevention to recruit and protect front-line staff, and ensure a safe working environment for personal support and health care workers.

Better long-term care starts with making sure that the workers providing this care have better wages, stable jobs and health and safety protections. Paying and protecting long term workers will be an essential part of our approach to national standards.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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To build a better future for seniors and ensure tragedies like this never happen again, we need to make sure the conditions of work reflect the care standards our seniors deserve. That’s why we will work with provinces and territories, respecting their jurisdiction, to support seniors with an investment of $9 billion over 5 years to support safer conditions for seniors and improved wages and working conditions for personal support workers.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Improve the quality and availability of long-term care homes and beds.

Implement strict infection prevention and control measures, including through more provincial and territorial facility inspections for long-term care homes.

Develop a Safe Long-Term Care Act collaboratively to ensure that seniors are guaranteed the care they deserve, no matter where they live.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Raise wages for personal support workers, including a guaranteed minimum wage of at least $25 per hour.

Train up to 50,000 new personal support workers.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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1. Bring Long-Term Care under the Canada Health Act

● Universal care will ensure that every person in long-term care in Canada has access to quality, affordable care.

2. Improve the quality of care in Long-Term Care facilities

● Create enforceable National Standards for LTC.

● Provide transformative investment for Seniors’ Care including infrastructure and staffing funding.

● Require Emergency and Pandemic Preparedness for LTC, including providing proper and adequate supplies of personal protective equipment and testing for COVID-19 for staff, family caregivers, and residents.

● Set a national standard of four hours of regulated care per day for each LTC resident.

● Enforce National Standards of Care through accountability and penalties, including criminal prosecution.

● Ensure safe family access to LTC facilities.

● Provide all needed vaccinations to all residents, staff and caregivers for LTC (not only COVID-19, but also influenza, pneumonia, diphtheria, whooping cough, etc.).

3. Improve the quality of life of workers in LTC

● Increase and stabilise staffing in LTC homes and improve training, fair pay for workers, benefits, and paid sick leave.

● Invest in training and education to support ongoing professional development and specialization for LTC workers.

● Prioritize senior care and long-term care skills for immigration status.

4. Invest in home and community care

● Provide a dedicated Seniors’ Care Transfer to provinces and territories for specific improvements to home, community and LTC separate from the federal health transfers.

● Shift LTC policy towards aging in place by having the Seniors’ Care Transfer include transformative investment in home and community care (such as naturally occurring retirement communities, co-housing models, and enhanced home support programs).

● Increase the proportion of LTC investment in community and home-based care from 13% to 35% in order to match the OECD average.

● End for-profit LTC facilities and reorient LTC towards community-based models.

● Make the Caregiver Tax Credit a refundable tax credit so that family caregivers have more flexibility (from its current earned tax credit status).

● Change the Home Renovation Tax Credit from $10,000 per household to $10,000 per person for more people to age in place.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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We are committed to strengthening public pensions and improving retirement security for all Canadians and providing a basic guaranteed livable income for seniors. A New Democrat government will create a Pension Advisory Commission to develop a long-term plan to enhance Old Age Security, boost the Guaranteed Income Supplement to lift all seniors out of poverty, and strengthen the Canada Pension Plan. We’ll also make automatic enrollment in OAS and GIS retroactive, so no retiree misses out on benefits that they should be receiving, and support efforts to make sure Canadians have good retirement financial literacy.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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Introduce a Career Extension Tax Credit to help seniors who want to stay in the workforce, stay in the workforce. The tax credit will let people 65 and over, who earn a working income, reduce their taxes. Seniors who earn a minimum of $5,000 at their jobs will be able to eliminate tax payable on a portion of their income and receive a tax credit of up to $1,650.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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