Green Party Policies are submitted and adopted by members. They are essential to platform development, and messaging by candidates and elected MPPs and MPs.
Policies are based on Green Party values. Policies are submitted to the annual GPO convention and the bi annual GPC convention. Time is limited so very few policies make it to the floor. There is a policy process to clean up the policy wording, prevent duplication and to prioritize the submissions. Even though members may agree on the need for a policy, it is a challenge to achieve agreement on the details and wording, so many excellent and needed policies do not get adopted. This leaves many gaps in our policy book. Due to tragic spread of COVID in Long Term Care (LTC), the following LTC policy made it to the GPO Convention on November 7, 2020 and was passed with a minor grammatical change. It was submitted by Valerie Powell of the Simcoe North executive and past candidate. Valerie is also the Seniors Critic in the GPO and GPC shadow cabinets. Valerie also submitted a policy to GPC for a National Seniors Strategy. It was accepted by the November 30 deadline and in line for the next stage of policy development.
Long Term Care
Preamble
WHEREAS we need to support aging in place and to consider housing policies on granny suites, garden suites, tiny houses, etc.
WHEREAS the current system is full of silos and in some cases competition for funding
WHEREAS systems need to take into account the increasing needs for dementia care
WHEREAS to improve and maintain an effective and efficient system, front line services need to be desirable and respected
Main Motion
Therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED that the Green Party of Ontario would create a coordinated system of care for people as they age to allow movement through the system for increasing, or decreasing, levels of care as needed. This would include a variety of innovative solutions that address specialized behaviour and care units and incorporate dementia friendly design.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Green Party of Ontario would establish a process to continually assess the care provided by municipal, charitable, nonprofit and for-profit Long Term Care homes to ensure minimum standards of care and the ability for rapid response to emergency situations.