Mr. Speaker, this is a very important issue for my riding of Vaughan—Woodbridge and for me. Much like many of my colleagues across this beautiful country, many of the individuals in my riding who reside in long-term care facilities were impacted.
I first want to thank the Canadian Armed Forces members who assisted at Woodbridge Vista: one of the long-term care facilities in my riding where, unfortunately, many residents passed away. I want to thank the Canadian Armed Forces for going in and assisting the staff there and getting things under control. I also want to thank William Osler Health System. It managed the Woodbridge Vista facility for a period of time. The same thing happened at Villa Gambin: the CAF did not go in there, but assistance was required.
We want our seniors to be taken care of. These seniors literally built this country. They are in their 80s and 90s. They toiled away building the beautiful cities and towns we live in and made Canada what it is. We owe it to them to do the right thing. We owe it to them to take care of them.
We know in Ontario, approximately 70% of the seniors in long-term care facilities suffer from dementia, Alzheimer's or a related condition. We know that they are there. They need to be safe, they need to be healthy and they need to be protected. We need to ensure that.
What went on in the early stages of the pandemic was horrifying for Canadians across the country in terms of the death toll, how people passed away and how people could not see loved ones. These are our seniors we are talking about. They are some of our most vulnerable citizens. We know we need to do better, and I wish to thank the Canadian Armed Forces again, the Canadian Red Cross and the individuals who have gone in and assisted.
Our government has stepped up to the plate by working with the provinces. That is very important. Whether it is with the government of Quebec, Ontario or whichever province, we have been there to assist with things such as the safe restart agreement and $740 million to purchase PPE. We have been there to work with the provinces and we will continue to do that.
I am very respectful of this. We have a fiscal federation in Canada. There are certain responsibilities the federal government has and responsibilities the provinces have. Those responsibilities include the delivery of services. With the Canada health transfer, we have transferred literally billions of dollars to the provinces. We did that, but at the same time, the provinces are still the majority funders of health care, specifically in the province of Ontario. We need to recognize that.
I believe in national standards. We need to bring them in, but we must do so in a way that co-operates with each province. We can only do that as such. That is the way our system is built. That is the way we have built such a great country and we will continue to do so. We have seen that co-operation.
I know the Province of Ontario is committed to investing over $2 billion per year into long-term care facilities, hiring 27,000 PSWs over the next four years and committing to a gold level standard of four hours of care for each person residing in a long-term care facility. We need to make sure that is implemented.
I appreciate the NDP's motion today and the member who brought it forward. I wish to speak to the fact that we have a system in place in this country. Yes, there are for-profit operators of long-term care, there are municipal operators of long-term care and there are provincial operators. Each model has its shortcomings and each model has its strengths.
We have seen many long-term care facilities managed for-profit. On average, they have not performed as well as others. That is a fact. However, some of them performed decently. I know the NDP would like to nationalize everything. They would like to nationalize all parts of the economy. Sometimes, it sounds like the NDP cannot even support a trade agreement with the United Kingdom, or CETA or the USMCA. Even when people like Jerry Dias step forward and say we need to support these trade deals, the NDP members still cannot bring themselves to support them.
I would like to go back to comments related to this motion and what is in the motion, specifically with regard to PSP Investments. As well-intentioned as this motion is, I would argue that the first part of it, which seeks to bring Revera under public ownership, is not the right solution to this important issue.
With my time here today, I think it will be helpful to explain the government's role, or lack thereof, in this context. First, allow me to provide a bit of background. We, as Canadians, believe in having a secure and dignified retirement for all Canadians. That is why we enhanced the CPP in our first term in government. That is why we have committed to increasing OAS by 10%.
However, we also have a number of pension funds in this country and one of them is PSP Investments. PSP Investments is mandated to manage the pension contributions of the public service, including the Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police. It is mandated to manage these pension plans and capital markets in the best interests of the contributors and beneficiaries of those respective plans. PSP reports to Parliament through the President of the Treasury Board, who is responsible for its legislation. The organization includes certain information about Revera in its annual reports.
Under the Public Sector Pension Investment Board Act, the President of the Treasury Board is responsible for establishing a nominating committee. Its mandate is to establish a list of qualified candidates for the proposed appointment of director of the independent board of PSP Investments. Based on the nominating committee's selection, the President of the Treasury Board makes a recommendation for appointment to the Governor in Council. It is an important distinction. The fact is that PSP Investments is not part of the federal public administration. It is not a government department or agency of the Crown. It does not receive parliamentary appropriations. It is not part of the public administration of Canada.
PSP Investments is a non-agent Crown corporation that operates at arm's length from the Government of Canada. That is a very important point to make to my colleagues who wish to nationalize everything, like those in the NDP. PSP Investments needs to operate and needs to invest its dollars for the benefit of its members. Who are these members? They are union members. They are public sector employees, whether RCMP members, Canadian Armed Forces members or others. The list goes on. They can pull the reports off the website and see that there are literally hundreds of thousands of current beneficiaries and also what are called persons making contributions, or contributories.
Part of the motion brought forth by my hon. colleague asks the government to interfere in the investment decisions and strategy of this fund in order to make one long-term care group, namely Revera, public. It implies that the Government of Canada has the authority to enact such a process. However, the fact is that PSP Investments is intentionally structured to be at arm's length from the government, and thankfully so. That is the right way it should be. This ensures its independent and non-partisan role. PSP Investments must be, and is, responsible for its own investment decisions.
The President of the Treasury Board therefore does not have the authority to issue investment direction, nor can he force PSP Investments to sell or transfer ownership of any of its assets. The organization's investment decisions are not influenced by political direction; regional, social or economic development considerations; or any non-investment objectives. In fact, such kinds of interference would put PSP Investments at a competitive disadvantage, which could impact its ability to achieve its legislated mandate.
This limitation also extends to Revera Inc., which as my Liberal colleague well knows, is a private company that owns properties in, operates in and invests in the senior living sector. It is a wholly owned operating subsidiary of PSP Investments that operates, develops and invests in senior housing facilities. Through its portfolio partnership, Revera owns and operates more than 500 properties across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom. Importantly, it is subject to the same rules as other businesses operating in the industry. Its Canadian residences must be licensed or approved by applicable provincial and territorial government bodies. As such, its services are subject to provincial regulations on the quality of care and services.
That in no way means that I am not in favour of national standards. I am in favour of national standards. Our seniors need to live in a secure, safe environment. The last few years of their lives need to be dignified. We all know that and we all want that as parliamentarians. I do not think there is any disagreement there.
Revera is also self-funded, meaning that it has its own source of financing and prepares independently audited financial statements. Since it is a wholly owned operating subsidiary of PSP Investments, registered under the Canada Business Corporations Act, it is not part of the federal public administration.
Our government has committed, as we saw in the September Speech from the Throne, to ensuring that our seniors are taken care of. We want to make sure that people entering retirement have a safe, secure and dignified retirement. We want to make sure seniors who need to be transferred to a long-term care facility are healthy, safe, secure and protected.
It is great to see that the vaccines are out. It is great to see that in the province of Ontario specifically, to my knowledge, the number of deaths in long-term care facilities has actually diminished to near zero and in some days has registered zero.