HAMILTON – Monique Taylor, MPP for Hamilton Mountain, has responded to the Ford government’s management order at the for-profit Grace Villa long-term care home, where a COVID-19 outbreak has already taken the lives of 20 Hamiltonians, and infected 177 residents and staff:
“Workers and families of residents have been begging the Ford government to take over Grace Villa for weeks. While everyone is relieved that Hamilton Health Sciences is finally taking over management of the home, my community is grieving and left wondering why it took so long for Doug Ford to act.
Since I wrote to Minister Fullerton requesting for provincial intervention last week, there have been over 50 more resident and staff cases of the virus. COVID-19 has now spread from just one floor to every floor of Grace Villa. It is very clear that we needed action sooner.
The catastrophe at Grace Villa could have been avoided. The issues with staffing, PPE and sanitation at this home are nothing new. They are the same issues that were exposed during Ontario’s long-term care homes faced during the first wave of the pandemic. Instead of learning from the first wave, Ford is sitting on $12 billion in unspent COVID-19 funds that could have been used to protect Grace Villa’s residents and staff.
Ford doesn’t want to spend the money, so he’s waving a white flag in the fight against COVID. Waiting for a vaccine is not a plan. The NDP has proposed a Post-Holiday Strategy to control this virus in our communities to prevent more outbreaks in our long-term care homes, before more families have to suffer the devastating loss of a loved one that could have been avoided.”