Seniors policy

Saskatchewan senior citizens have contributed so much to the province over the years. They deserve our respect and they deserve to enjoy the fruits of their labours in retirement. With the baby boomer generation entering their senior years the population of elderly people will experience a rapid and significant growth. For these and many other reasons it’s extremely important that we have a plan to make sure that people have the opportunity to make the most of their final years and receive appropriate housing and other necessary supports.

Housing and Home Care

Housing is a front-of-mind issue for many seniors. We currently have a long waiting list for long-term care spots. Throughout the province we have seniors staying in hospital beds, not because they need to be in hospital but because they are unable to care for themselves at home and there are no long-term spot available for them. This is neither the ideal environment for the patients nor is it an efficient use of public resources.

We clearly need to increase the number of long-term care spots. These should be in all levels of care, including Level 1 and 2. This will involve building new facilities or adapting existing facilities for this purpose, but we should also invest in a different model that will allow more seniors to stay in their homes or with family longer, reserving long-term facilities for those in most need.

To assist seniors to stay in their own homes we need to expand home care. This means more hours from nurses, but also expanding the services home care offers to include more domestic chores that are difficult for seniors but not appropriate work for nurses. We also need to make sure that this does not result in isolation for seniors by offering day programming and respite options.

We can also introduce a program to support, through grants or tax incentives, families that choose to care for an elderly family member at home. Families and primary caregivers would need to be given resources, support and training in how to respond to challenges they may face with an aging family member. This balance between home-based and institutional care can help alleviate some of the pressures of a growing senior population and provide options for families to take a different approach to caring for their elders.

Seniors’ Secretariat

It is imperative that seniors be provided with the most up-to-date and easily accessible information in terms of government services in such key areas as health care, housing, pension benefits and education. At the same time, it is also very important that government be aware of the changing needs of seniors and retirees. A Seniors’ Secretariat would help provide government with the most current and objective information in this area. It would also assist in ensuring our government takes a comprehensive and integrated approach to seniors’ issues.

In order to properly meet the needs of the province’s various demographics, we must develop relationships with the people of the province to work together collaboratively in the development of policy. Only by establishing structures for positive partnership in policy development can we develop a platform that reflects the needs of the people of Saskatchewan. This is the kind of the democratic renewal we need if we’re going to be able to address the challenges we face as a province. Citizens living the experience must be involved in developing the policies that affect their lives.

Controlling Health Care Costs

I am calling for the introduction of a universally accessible publicly funded drug plan similar to the one that was unveiled by the Saskatchewan NDP in the 2007 election campaign. However, I don’t think we should stop there.

Prescription drugs are the fastest growing expense in health care, which is itself the area of greatest public expenditure. We need a creative approach to controlling drug costs. My proposal is SaskPharm: a new Crown Corporation that produces generic drugs.

SaskPharm could provide drugs to Saskatchewan Health, greatly decreasing the cost of drug purchases. These savings could then be allocated to other sectors of the health care system such as equipment and personnel, or reinvested in research and development. If prescriptions of SaskPharm products were sold to the public at a small mark-up, savings could be passed on to consumers while still providing sufficient revenue to maintain and expand SaskPharm’s ongoing operations. Medications could also be sold to other provinces and jurisdictions, supporting our province and a burgeoning research and development industry.

Pension Protection

Pension funding (or too often, underfunding) is both an extremely complex and timely issue. As we have seen with the recent concessions made by Canadian Auto Workers employees at Chrysler Canada, working Canadians, both unionized and non-unionized, place a high value on their pensions. At the same time, with working people living longer and demanding a higher quality of life than ever before, it is clear that both federal and provincial governments will need to make pension funding and regulation a priority.

We should enhance both CPP and OAS so that they meet the long-term care needs of the disadvantaged, and work with the federal government to establish a national pension insurance system. However, if we are to truly see any of these changes come to fruition, it will require the active participation of employers, working people and government. This means employers and working people will be jointly responsible for properly funding pension plans and making prudent investments in this area. Government will be responsible for providing the necessary regulations and making up pension shortfalls in extreme circumstances.

A healthy society is a society that respects, provides for and learns from its elders. We cannot look forward to a positive future without knowing our past and honouring our pioneers.