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Before I was elected to the Ontario legislature, I spent almost 30 years practising medicine as a family doctor in Kanata. During this time, I witnessed the challenges inherent in Ontario’s long-term care system. Like many other people across the province, I have experienced first-hand the long-term care system with my own family.

We all have a family member, a loved one or friend who has needed long-term care, and many of us will one day need it ourselves. We will all be touched by it in some way.

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Unfortunately, the reality of long-term care in Ontario is that homes are operating at 98-per-cent occupancy, with 34,000 people on wait lists. This unmet demand has created pressures in hospitals, caused hallway health care and left many Ontarians feeling unsupported.

The wait for a placement in a long-term care home is 154 days on average – that’s almost half a year that a family member or loved one is waiting for a safe place to call home, and in some cases it’s even longer. Ninety-eight per cent of long-term care residents are long-stay residents; only seven per cent of residents are under the age of 65; and approximately 66 per cent of residents have Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.