Ontario NDP leader Andrew Horwath is visiting Peterborough on Friday to discuss long-term care bed issues in the city.
Horwath has scheduled a press conference just before noon at the Fairhaven Home, the municipally-run long-term care centre.
A release from Horwath’s office states she plans to discuss how the former Liberal government and current Conservative government have both let the waitlist for long-term care beds in Peterborough “balloon.”
She also plans to address the government’s “failure” to build additional long-term care beds, saying the city faces a “worsening long-term care crisis.”
Horwath also plans to make a “community stop” in downtown Peterborough just before 1 at the Whistle Stop Cafe on Charlotte Street. Howarth last visited the city in June to discuss the city’s opioid crisis.
In early August, Global News Peterborough profiled Fairhaven, which at the time had 820 people on the wait list for a long-term care bed, representing an average wait time of 5.5 years. As well, St. Joseph’s at Fleming long-term care home in the city’s west end reported in August there were 600 people on a wait list which was equivalent to a wait time of 4-5 years for a basic bed.