Federal Health Minister Addresses Nursing Home Association

As seniors become the fastest growing group of Canadians, the federal health minister says her government wants to ensure they can live life to the fullest.

Ginette Petitpas Taylor was in Saint John Wednesday night to speak at the New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes annual general meeting.

Petitpas Taylor highlighted several of her government’s initiatives, including the $75-million Healthy Seniors Pilot Project in New Brunswick.

“These investments that we’re making, we are really looking forward to seeing some innovative ideas as to what are different approaches that we can use in order to ensure that seniors can stay home longer to meet their needs,” she said.

Petitpas Taylor said New Brunswick is the perfect “living lab” to do innovative work like this and believes some of the projects could be shared with other areas.

The New Brunswick Association of Nursing Homes is holding its AGM in #SaintJohn. Federal health minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor is expected to deliver a keynote address this evening. pic.twitter.com/Lg6QGoxoDb

— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) May 8, 2019

The health minister also touched on her 93-year-old grandmother who lives in a nursing home in the Moncton area.

“Every weekend when I’m back home in my riding, I spend as much time with my mother as I can and I see your kindness, I see your compassion, and I see the warmth that you show to people like my mother day in and day out,” Petitpas Taylor said.

Petitpas Taylor also weighed in on the ongoing nursing home dispute in New Brunswick.

“My hope is that both sides are going to get at the table, that they’re going to come up with a fair negotiation process and deal to meet the needs of the workers, and also that it’s going to be a process that’s going to be fair and acceptable for everyone,” she said.

The province and the New Brunswick Council of Nursing Home Unions was scheduled to return to the bargaining table Thursday morning.