Columbia River - Revelstoke MLA Norm Macdonald is sticking to his guns when it comes to improving the lot of seniors in British Columbia.
Macdonald stated his support of Opposition Leader Carole James' call for a Representative for Seniors in a private member's statement in the B.C. Legislature on April 28.
"Seniors' care in rural British Columbia is something that is, of course, critically important. Often when we talk about health care we fall into numbers and figures, when the important information that we receive need to pay attention to should be based on the experiences of seniors in our communities," he stated in the Legislature.
"Last election in 2005, like many rural politicians, I spent my time going door to door and talking to people in my area about what was important. Of the issues in front of people at that time, the most important issue in many cases dealt with seniors’ care. There had been a real adjustment in the facilities. A number of facilities closed. There were changes to home support and in many, many government services to seniors," he continued.
"I can say with complete clarity that seniors’ care is of incredible importance to people in my area and I would say, in speaking to colleagues and listening to people here in the House, that it is across rural British Columbia and, I would think, to all British Columbians."
Meetings held last February around the constituency confirmed to Macdonald that he is on the right track, he said, noting the number and variety of complaints and concerns he heard.
"One of them was around complaints' mechanisms, about the need to be able to bring forward issues in a way that worked consistently for seniors.
The other issue that came forward at each of the meetings was around residential care and the need to increase the number of staff available to residents of residential care facilities. The feeling was that there were not enough people in place to look after their needs.
"Now, the issues raised point to a need for us to do certain things better. Because of that, some solutions have been put forward by the Leader of the Opposition that I think provide mechanisms for making improvements not only for seniors in rural communities but for all B.C. seniors.
The first of those acts was a private member’s bill, the Community Care and Assisted Living Amendment Act. What it suggested was that we put in place a mechanism for going into residential care facilities, having those inspections unannounced, making sure that they happen a minimum number of times and having the results made public.
"And a seniors’ representative in government remains an outstanding need," Macdonald said.
"The idea with the seniors’ representative act is that you would have an independent officer of the Legislature who would look at seniors' issues, act as an advocate for seniors, investigate concerns that seniors bring forward, and report directly and publicly to the Legislature so that there could be no opportunity for the government to massage messages or try to control the information that comes forward," he stated.