I want to bring to the debate three examples of where we're hurting in our riding of Timmins-James Bay. I'm sure every member of this assembly can get up and probably give a similar story. Let me give you a couple of examples.
We have currently within our community, as the central placement coordination agency sees it, a surplus of beds. So they say the issue is, when you look at the district overall, we have enough beds to go around and we don't have to worry about adding beds to our system. But it means that many citizens who live in Timmins or in other communities, like Moosonee or Moose Factory or wherever, are having to get placed very far away from home, somewhere within the district, because there are no beds available in their municipalities.
For example, if you're a citizen living in the town of Moosonee, Kashechewan, Fort Albany, Timmins or wherever it might be, it doesn't necessarily mean that because a district has enough beds, we're going to be able to get a bed for you in your home community. Often what it means for people, especially in the remote northern communities, is that the only option is to be given a bed somewhere far away from their community and far removed from their families. I think that's a really bad thing for the health of a person at that point in their life, when they are getting on in age and probably need family around them much more in order to sustain them in their golden years. I look at Moose Factory, Moosonee, Kashechewan, Fort Albany, Ogoki, Attawapiskat and Peawanuck and there are hardly any long-term-care beds in those communities.
There is a proposal coming together now between the federal and provincial governments to merge and amalgamate the federal hospital in Moose Factory with the provincial hospital in Moosonee. One of the things we could do in all of this, if the province takes over the hospital by way of running it and paying for it, is to use the federal dollars that used to pay for health care and ensure ourselves that there are facilities in each of those communities to provide long-term-care beds to their residents. So if you live in Attawapiskat, Fort Albany, Kashechewan or wherever, you don't have to be shipped away to Moose Factory, Timmins, Kirkland Lake or North Bay to get a bed when it comes to providing for your needs in those golden years.
I am calling on the government, through this debate, when we are going through the process of negotiation to create the new provincial hospital on the coast of James Bay, to ensure that we get the federal dollars that the federal government is not going to be paying any more for operating the current federal hospital and that we utilize that money to build, first of all, long-term-care beds, so that we have in effect a hospital in each of those communities, like Fort Albany, Attawapiskat and others, where we're providing not only some chronic care beds but also long-term-care beds to the citizens in those communities. We say to the feds, "All right, we're going to take over the provincial hospital. We're going to pay for the maintenance. We're going to pay for the operation. But, rather than giving us the capital to build a new hospital, you have to provide the capital to help us make sure that within that funding envelope there is enough money to pay for the long-term-care beds for the northern James Bay communities so those residents can receive the same services received in other communities."
Further down the line in the Timmins-James Bay riding is the issue of what happens between Timmins, Kapuskasing, Smooth Rock Falls and Hearst. Those four communities have long-term-care facilities within them. The placement coordination agency takes the view that because there are enough beds within the district -- in other words, there may be vacancies in the Hearst unit or there may be vacancies in a Matheson unit -- we don't need any more beds within our district. I think that's a little short-sighted, because it means that certain communities like Timmins are hard-pressed to have some of their residents placed in an institution of their choice. Sometimes the only option available to them is to be placed in Iroquois Falls or Kapuskasing, or even North Bay in some cases. I don't think that is a viable option for seniors who need to be around their families.
On behalf of the families and on behalf of those seniors, I call on the government to make sure we have the necessary money to provide an adequate number of beds in communities so that people in their golden years don't have to be shipped far away from their families when those families are so much an integral part of their life.
I also want to make a second plea, on top of the long-term-care beds, and that is about the money that is needed for capital for places like the North Centennial Manor in Kapuskasing and the Foyer des Pionniers dans la communauté de Hearst. First of all for Kapuskasing: this is a facility that has existed for a long time. It was under the old Cochrane District Homes for the Aged board when there was a corporation that ran both the Iroquois Falls and Kapuskasing sites, South Centennial Manor and North Centennial Manor, and at one point Hearst was paying into that as well.
Those things were built a long time ago. They're in need of repairs to bring them up to standards that are more in keeping with today. I'll be meeting very shortly, within the next couple of weeks, with the people at North Centennial Manor to see if there are any capital dollars available for them to be able to reconstruct the facility they have.
I say to the government that you've been really quick in saying, "We're prepared to add all kinds of beds to the system." My criticism of you is that it has all been in the private sector. You've forgotten that the not-for-profit and the municipal homes for the aged are also in need of capital dollars. Rather than taking all your dollars and giving them to your private sector friends to build long-term-care units -- you have forgotten that there are not-for-profit and municipal homes for the aged that are very much in need of money. One of those, for example, is the Kapuskasing one.
We're going to meet in the next two or three weeks to discuss in detail how much they need, what needs to be done, how big the building has to be, how many beds and all that. But I want to be able, on behalf of that community and the North Centennial Manor, to meet with the ministry to figure out if there are dollars available in order to go ahead with their capital requests.
Sur la question de Hearst et du Foyer des Pionniers, c'est encore une situation où l'on voit une communauté, qui est dynamique et toujours en train de travailler d'une manière très positive pour la communauté, qui a un très bon projet présentement. Il faut dire que, quand on fait quelque chose à Hearst, toute la communauté s'embarque. Moi, je suis fier de dire que je représente cette communauté dynamique. Dans la situation de Hearst on a l'hôpital Notre-Dame, et le Foyer des Pionniers, qui est l'institution de soins de longue durée, dans la communauté qui ont besoin de faire application pour les capitaux pour être capables de rebâtir leur facilité.
L'hôpital à Hearst et le Foyer des Pionniers, au lieu de faire leur fundraising séparément en faisant la compétition pour les mêmes dollars, ont fait ce qui est responsable et se sont joints sous un seul parapluie pour être capables de faire tout le financement, le prélèvement de fonds, à travers une seule voix pour les deux institutions. L'hôpital Notre-Dame et le Foyer des Pionniers travaillent ensemble pour être capables d'aller chercher de l'argent dans le secteur privé.
J'ai parlé à du monde qui ont été contactés par ce groupe de prélèvement de fonds. Ils me disent qu'ils ont été très bons dans leur devoir parce qu'ils ont cherché beaucoup de dollars où possiblement il n'y avait pas de dollars disponibles. Le comité de prélèvement de fonds a fait un vraiment bon job en allant chercher leur argent pour avoir leur pourcentage, pour faire leur projet.
Sur le bord du Foyer des Pionniers, on commence d'être inquiet avec le gouvernement provincial, qui jusqu'à cette date a promis des engagements pour être capable de financer sa part de la reconstruction du Foyer des Pionniers. Moi, je veux encore amener le point, comme je l'ai fait par le passé, qu'on va continuer avec les réunions plus tard ce printemps en espérant que l'on va être capable de se rencontrer -- le monde du Foyer des Pionniers, le ministère et moi-même -- pour dire qu'il est important que vous financiez non seulement les institutions de soins de longue durée dans le secteur privé, mais que vous ayez l'argent pour payer celles dans le secteur public, telle que le Foyer des Pionniers.
C'est un peu différent pour le Foyer des Pionniers. Il faut être clair que, quand ils avaient été ôtés du vieux système, c'était d'origine ce qu'on appelle une « municipal home for the aged ». Là, ils se trouvent un peu dans le secteur privé en tant que « stand-alone, private corporation ». Même si on a ce statut, le gouvernement jusqu'à date n'a pas alloué d'argent pour la reconstruction de ce centre. Il est important que le gouvernement comprenne qu'il a des responsabilités envers le Foyer des Pionniers et de s'assurer que l'argent soit mis en place pour ce projet.
Le dernier point que je veux faire, parce que je sais que ma collègue, notre critique en matière de santé, aimerait avoir la balance du temps, est sur la question de ce qui arrive avec les soins dans la communauté.
Unfortunately in our community, as across the province of Ontario, we have many seniors and others who are not able to get the level of care they need within their homes from the CCACs. I don't blame the community care access centres. They're not the problem here. They have been trying to do with not a heck of a lot. As a result, our CCAC has had to reduce the hours of service they provide to citizens in our communities. As a result, a lot of those families are feeling quite hard done by.
I'm going to give you one example: Fern Montfort of Iroquois Falls -- a long-time resident of that community. I've known him for a long time. Unfortunately, he suffers from Alzheimer's. Up until September, he is getting 160 hours per month of care in his home. His wife, Angie, works at South Centennial Manor, which is the long-term-care institution very near Iroquois Falls. She wants to keep him at home because she knows that once he goes into the manor, his likelihood of surviving longer probably won't be very good. Fern is one of these individuals who needs to be in his comfortable environment called "home," around his family. Every now and then, he recognizes where he is. They've just been advised that they're dropping him from 160 hours a month to 60.
That's devastating to the family. It means to say that Angie has got a decision to make. She either pays 17 bucks an hour to have care come in and provide for her husband, or she's got to quit work or a family member's got to quit work to take care of him, or they have to institutionalize Fern. I want to say on behalf of the Montfort family of Iroquois Falls that those are not acceptable solutions. It may not be my riding any more -- I used to represent Iroquois Falls in the former Parliament, but now with amalgamation, it's in the riding of Mr Ramsay -- but I raise this issue because I know that family well. They are hard-working people who have paid their taxes all their lives, kept their noses to the grindstone and did what every good citizen should do, and that was contribute to their community, pay their taxes and give back. This is our chance to give back to them.
So on behalf of Fern, Angie and all of the family, I call on this government to make sure that we adequately fund the services in the community care access centres so people like Fern can live with some dignity and don't have to be institutionalized before their time.