I am heartbroken.

Our seniors deserve better.

There is so much to love about Canada, and while I am deeply concerned about the direction of our country, I am still proud to be a Canadian.

But we, as a nation, have allowed a culture of disrespect and callousness towards our seniors.

I am disgusted by the reports coming out of the provinces regarding the conditions and “care” in many long-term seniors residents.

But it didn’t take a pandemic for me to realize that our government hasn’t been treasuring our elderly like we should.

Throughout my travels across Canada I was already hearing horror stories of families being pressured to choose medically assisted dying as a way to “take care of” their elderly and sick parents.

Once death is a viable option for “care”, should we be that surprised that the standard of care has fallen so far?

As Canadians we must hold ourselves to a higher standard. Our parents and grandparents built this great nation and we owe it to them to treasure them, to show them the respect they deserve.

I vow to lead a wholesale change in the culture towards the elderly, and the sick.

I will review Health Canada’s policy initiatives for long term care facilities and introduce national design standards to make sure that heating ventilation, air conditioning systems and occupancy standards  are designed to cut down on the spread of air borne viruses like  COVID-19.

And I will introduce measures that will allow law enforcement to crackdown on elder abuse.

As this story has gripped our nation in the last 24 hours, I want to hear from you. What ideas do you have in order to change our attitude towards seniors in Canada? Click here to share them with me.

Together, let's build a Canada with a culture of respect and honour towards our seniors.