New campaign calls for an end to for-profit long-term care homes in Ontario

Several unions are calling for an end to for-profit companies in long-term care.

The “Care not Profits” campaign kicked off Thursday.

“We can no longer turn a blind eye to the millions of dollars lining executives’ pockets and rewarding shareholders as residents and overworked staff are left without the dignity and respect they deserve,” said Unifor national president Jerry Dias.

“We must learn from this crisis and that starts with Doug Ford taking action to put people before profits.”

This comes as a new paper found for-profit long-term care homes have had worse COVID-19 outbreaks and deaths.

The research was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal and looked at the 623 long-term care homes in Ontario.

Over 5,800 of Ontario’s COVID-19 cases are reported to be long-term care residents.

Of those, 1,789 have died.