Quebec announces 5 private long-term care homes to get public funding

Quebec Minister for Health and for Seniors Sonia Belanger responds to the Opposition during question period, at the legislature in Quebec City, Tuesday, May 9, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

Quebec announced Monday that five more private seniors' homes will be funded by the provincial government, which aims to nationalize all long-term care homes (CHSLDs) by 2025.

The minister responsible for seniors and health, Sonia Bélanger, made the announcement at the CHSLD Soulanges, in the Montérégie region, which is one of the five homes under the new agreement.

The other four care homes are:

• CHSLD Manoir Harwood in Montérégie-Ouest
• CHSLD de la Rive in Laval
• CHSLD Manoir de l'Ouest de l'île in Montreal's West Island
• CHSLD Wales in the Eastern Townships

This brings the number of private long-term care centres that are subsidized to eight, with more to be added in the coming weeks, the minister said in a news release.

"The people who are housed deserve the best, regardless of their living environment, and that is why the project of contracting private CHSLDs is a priority for our government," Bélanger said in the release.

"Our goal is to ensure that the quality of care and services is comparable in all living environments. I am very proud to announce that with the agreement of these five additional CHSLDs, including the CHSLD Manoir de l'Ouest de l'Île, we are accelerating this harmonization for the benefit of residents, their families and staff," she added.

Converting all private long-term care homes to state-run CHSLDs was one of 22 recommendations from Coroner Géhane Kamel's report into the deaths of seniors in CHSLDs during the first wave of the pandemic. Kamel made the recommendation after hearing from first-hand accounts of "deplorable" and "shocking" treatment of the elderly when the pandemic first.

In a pilot project last year, three private care homes were nationalized, which the government classified as a success. 

Last June, Premier François Legault's government said that "up to 20 establishments" could be converted in 2022-2023.

With files from The Canadian Press