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‘Long-term care is hiring’: Ford government weighs incentives to attract PSWs

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Ontario’s long-term minister says she is “always hiring” new personal support workers and has revealed the Ford government is currently considering new incentive programs to tempt people to consider a career in the sector.

Minister Natalia Kusendova-Bashta, who worked as a nurse before entering politics, said her ministry is looking at what it can do to attract new long-term care workers to help meet care standards and staff new facilities.

“Currently, I am looking at the Ministry of Long-Term Care and seeing what kind of incentives we can provide for people to be attracted to the long-term care sector,” she told Global News in an interview after announcing new college places for nurses.

“We are currently reviewing these programs and seeing whether we need to adjust certain things or introduce new programs and new incentives specifically targeted at the Ministry of Long-Term Care.”

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Among the pressures on the system is the province’s target to build 30,000 net new long-term care beds by 2028.

Kusendova-Bashta said it was early in her ministry’s work, but that she wanted to see a renewed recruitment drive for personal support workers in Ontario.

“Everywhere I go, I say, ‘Long-term care is hiring — so please join,’” she said. “I’m always hiring and I’m always looking for opportunities to expand the long-term care workforce.”

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Ontario already has a number of incentive programs in place to attract new staff to work in long-term care.

Students studying to become personal support workers can apply for a $5,440 stipend during their placement. According to Ontario Health’s website, eligible staff who make a 12-month commitment to a long-term care home can receive $10,000, with a $10,000 relocation incentive also in place.

“We are seeing more challenges in recruitment and retention in the north, so we have targeted investments and incentives in long-term care for PSWs, and we’re seeing whether we can expand that as well,” Kusendova-Bashta said.

The union representing staff currently working in the sector said one-off incentives were less important than broad reforms to improve wages and reduce the number of patients staff have to assist.

“It needs to be about boosting the hourly wage,” Debra Maxfield, chair of the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Health Care Workers Coordinating Committee, said. “The government does need to focus on more money and hourly wages; they need to focus on the staffing ratios.”

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Ontario also needs more staff to hit its care targets.

A recent report from the provincial government shows Ontario got close — but ultimately fell short — of its legislated goal of four hours of direct care per long-term care patient.

The Progressive Conservative government set the target aimed at boosting both the amount of direct care residents receive from nurses and personal support workers, as well as other health professionals such as physiotherapists, in a 2021 law.

While the government met its interim targets in the following two years, starting at three hours of direct care, it did not reach the third-year or final targets, amid staffing challenges.

In the last year, the average direct hours of nursing and PSW care in long-term care homes across the province was three hours and 49 minutes, or 95.5 per cent of that four-hour target, according to a report recently published by the ministry.

Maxfield said the province had a tough task on its hands solving recruitment and retention problems in the sector.

“It’s very hard to recruit PSWs,” she said.

“The demands in long-term care — we have complex residents coming in and it’s hard to keep up. I mean, since the pandemic, everybody is still tired, we’re still burned out. Staffing ratios in long-term care — when you have one PSW to 10 residents, how do you get that care?”

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— with files from The Canadian Press

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Intruder in Ontario home invasion case carried a crossbow, court docs say

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A court document shows a Lindsay, Ont., man facing charges for allegedly breaking into an apartment was carrying a crossbow when he was confronted by a tenant.

The resident, Jeremy David McDonald, is also facing assault charges in the incident on Aug. 18 — a fact that has generated widespread interest in the case.

Police information filed in court alleges that Michael Kyle Breen damaged a window and screen at McDonald’s home and carried a crossbow.

The court document says the 41-year-old Breen is charged with break and enter, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, mischief under $5,000 and failing to comply with a probation order.

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Police have said that Breen, who is scheduled to appear in court for a bail hearing next week, was already wanted for unrelated offences.

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McDonald, the 44-year-old resident, was charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon after he allegedly “did endanger the life” of Breen.

Premier Doug Ford blasted the decision to charge the apartment resident, saying last week that it shows “something is broken.”

Kawartha Lakes Police Chief Kirk Robertson wrote in a statement Wednesday that he recognizes the incident has generated significant public interest and “emotional” responses, but called some of the reaction “unjust and inaccurate.”

Robertson wrote that individuals have the right to defend themselves and their property, but the law requires that any defensive action be proportionate to the threat faced.

“This means that while homeowners do have the right to protect themselves and their property, the use of force must be reasonable given the circumstances,” he wrote.


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Canada’s top court won’t hear appeal in land dispute at Ontario’s Sauble Beach

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The Supreme Court of Canada has declined to hear an appeal of a lower-court ruling that upheld a First Nation’s ownership of a stretch of land at a popular Ontario beach after a lengthy dispute.

Canada’s top court has dismissed the appeal request from landowners and the province after a stretch of land along Sauble Beach was returned to Saugeen First Nation in 2023.

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This dismissal comes nearly two months after members of Saugeen First Nation changed the iconic “Welcome to Sauble Beach” sign that greeted beach visitors.

The temporary “Welcome to Saugeen Beach” sign was erected to reflect the First Nation’s ownership of the land, with the town’s mayor expressing disappointment that he wasn’t alerted of the change.

The Ontario Court of Appeal upheld last December the decision that 2.2 kilometres of the coastline in South Bruce Peninsula was incorrectly surveyed 170 years ago.

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The portion of the land is valuable fishing ground for the First Nation community and was surrendered in 1854 in an agreement with the Crown to give up portions of Bruce Peninsula.

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92% of Ontario post-secondary students stressed about money, survey finds

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The majority of post-secondary students in Ontario are stressed about their finances heading into the school year, a new survey found.

The survey from TD Bank, which collected data from post-secondary students across the country, found that 92 per cent of all respondents in Ontario are stressed about their finances.

“The survey was clear that our students are experiencing a lot of stress, which is a bit unique from previous generations because of the multitude of factors that are just hypersensitive at this point, with higher unemployment, higher cost of living, higher tuition,” says Joe Moghaizel, vice-president of everyday advice journey at TD.

The survey found that while 78 per cent of Ontario parents believe their child has experienced financial stress in the past three months, that figure was well below the actual number of 92 per cent.

“What’s interesting is the amount of pressure and stress that they’re currently facing and feeling, and the disconnect between what their parents believe they’re experiencing,” Moghaizel says. “Parents were not aware of the amount of stress that the students are feeling.”

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Moghaizel pointed to a number of things leading to this financial pressure, including the high cost of living and high rate of unemployment among young people in a difficult job market, leading to many students to have what he called a volatile income.

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The survey also found that Ontario had the highest percentage of students stressed about tuition costs at 35 per cent, compared with an average of 26 per cent in other provinces.

The government of Canada estimates it will take almost 10 years for the average student to pay off their student loans and the total student loan debt in Canada surpassed $23.5 billion in 2022.


“You go back to over two decades ago, when I was in school, the financial pressures that students deal with now are significantly higher because tuition is a lot more expensive and the cost of living is more expensive, and inflation has really taken a bite at students,” Moghaizel says.

Another key takeaway from the survey was that 36 per cent of all respondents found that social spending stressed them out the most.

Moghaizel says the social pressure speaks to the online environment that students find themselves in today, where everything they do is shared online.

“They all feel the pressure to spend and keep up, which, again, it’s not too dissimilar from other age groups and we’re keeping up with the Joneses and just keeping up with the spending habit of your circle creates a bit of pressure,” he says.

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Moghaizel says this can leave post-secondary students feeling ill-equipped to manage their finances better.

Despite the concern, Moghaizel hopes this information is not discouraging to students and is an opportunity to start establishing good financial habits early in life.

He said that with societal pressures, it’s good for students to understand their needs versus their wants, and focus on prioritizing the necessities. Moghaizel says that through tracking their spending, students can see where all of their money is going.

“We want to make sure that we’re equipping students with the right understanding of financial knowledge for the products and services,” Moghaizel says.



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