Nickel Belt’s NDP candidate touts the value of a caregiver benefit

Posted: February 26, 2025

(February 25, 2025) By: Star Staff and Canadian Press, The Sudbury Star

‘Caregivers pick up the slack that our privatized homecare system leaves,’ France Gelinas says

France Gelinas, the NDP candidate for Nickel Belt, says her party would introduce a caregiver benefit if it forms the next provincial government.

“The NDP recognizes the value caregivers bring to Ontario patients,” Gelinas said in a release. “Whether it be basic medical tasks or administrative supports, caregivers provide an endless stream of supports for the people who depend on them.

“Caregivers pick up the slack that our privatized homecare system leaves when serving patients. Whether it be help driving to appointments, picking up and preparing food, housework like changing bed sheets or doing laundry as well as a lot of personal care; caregivers use time and resources keeping loved ones at home where they want to be.”

Gelinas, who has held Nickel Belt since 2007, is facing challenges from Paul DiVincenzo (New Blue Party), Natalie Labbee (Liberal), Randy Hazlett (PC) and James Chretien (Libertarian.)

The benefit, worth $1,000 a month for a family member who provides at least 20 hours of care, has the support of Dot Klein, a member of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario and the Ontario Health Coalition.

Klein shared her experience caring for family members during a press conference on Tuesday.

“Looking after a loved one isn’t easy when you work and have children,” she said. “It means working (fewer) shifts which, directly affects your income. That’s not easy when you also need to pay your own bills.”

The NDP said research by the Ontario Caregivers Coalition indicates nearly 300,000 Ontario caregivers have reported financial hardship because of their caregiving responsibilities. A further 90 per cent have modified their own spending and budgeting and 70 per cent have dipped into their savings to support their caregiving responsibilities.

Lauren Bates, of the Ontario Caregivers Coalition is another who supports the benefits.

“Caregiving is expensive, both because of out-of-pocket costs and because caregivers often have to cut back on their hours or leave their job. But the efforts of caregivers hold up our health systems and enable the people they care for to get the respect and dignity they deserve.

“Caregivers shouldn’t find themselves financially desperate as a result.”

The benefit is among $70 billion in new spending over three years the NDP is promising if elected Thursday. The party is also promising $37 billion in new revenue and savings, including tax increases.

The NDP estimates that new tax brackets for those earning $300,000, $400,000 and $500,000 a year would bring in about $3 billion per year.

It also says increasing the amount of capital gains subject to tax from 50 per cent to 80 per cent would bring in about $3.5 billion per year, and increasing the provincial land transfer tax rate on homes purchased for $3 million or more would see $33 million a year in revenue.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles had already promised a monthly grocery rebate, connecting everyone to a family doctor, establishing a public builder for 300,000 affordable homes and creating a universal school food program.

The NDP would put $10.5 billion over three years into public health — including their promise to attach everyone to team-based primary care.

Their home-building plan would cost $7.5 billion over three years and their grocery rebate would cost $11 billion over that time.

Doubling disability support payments and Ontario Works payments would cost nearly $23 billion over three years. Spending on education would increase by $13 billion over three years, not including spending $830 million per year to address a school maintenance backlog.

And a group of promises to increase transit funding, implement the caregiver benefit, eliminate hospital parking fees and reduce home heating costs would add up to $4.8 billion over three years.

Stiles wrote in a release accompanying the platform that it’s her plan for a better Ontario.

“As premier, I will fight against rising costs, freeze taxes, hire doctors, build homes you can afford and fix local schools,” she wrote. “I’ll lead a government that will always be on your side.”

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