Thank you.
To add to Mr. Lake's presentation, let's be clear: We know what to do. We have occupational health and safety standards that are approved across this country. We have infection control standards that are approved and recognized across this country. We have staffing mechanisms that are approved across this country. What is missing is proper funding for long-term care, home care, and all the regulation and the mandated standards.
This federal government just passed national standards for long-term care, but it's not mandated. That's what has to happen.
It has to be recognized that in long-term care—and Jodi explained that there's a difference between home care, residence care and long-term care—they are sick residents. They're not what we used to see as level one, two, three and four, where the level one folks walk around and go shopping. Most of those in our long-term care facilities are level four, and they need the appropriate 4.1 hours of care.
Ontario is the only province now that has put on paper that they will look at four hours of care by 2025, but again, how it is going to be implemented? It's only with serious funding to our long-term care, matched with the standards and the regulations, to avoid the disasters that happened at the beginning of the pandemic—and let's be honest: Things weren't rosy before either.