April 23rd, 2020

Participation House deal should apply to all congregate care workers

QUEEN’S PARK — “All heroes should be treated like heroes,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, urging the government to agree to give all workers in congregate care settings the same deal as the staff at Participation House will now, finally, get.

The Markham assisted living home for adults with disabilities is experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak. An agreement has been reached to double their pay for the duration of the outbreak, in addition to stronger health and safety protections.

“Every worker in long-term care, assisted living or a group-home setting is being asked to take on extraordinary risk, and exercise an incredible level of professionalism, caution and care,” said Horwath. “They all deserve our support, our respect, our appreciation and every bit of protection we can give them. Let’s do that for all frontline heroes."