Opinion: Isobel Mackenzie embarrassed the NDP government this week by showing BC ranks dead last for senior services
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VICTORIA — Senior advocate Isobel Mackenzie embarrassed New Democrats this week with a report that ranked BC last in financial support for seniors.
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“When you look at this big picture, you have to recognize that BC seniors don’t get the same level of financial support and subsidy for the things they need as seniors in other provinces and territories,” Mackenzie told reporters Thursday.
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The advocate’s report, BC Seniors: Falling Further Behind, documents how government-funded pensions fall short of the cost of living in a province whose urban regions are the most expensive in the country.
Pensions are a federal responsibility.
But Mackenzie didn’t let the province off the hook by allowing BC’s seniors to be left behind.
In the most galling part of the New Democrats’ report, Mackenzie and her staff conducted a nationwide survey of nine ancillary services for seniors, including subsidized dental care, eyeglasses, hearing aids, home repairs and home supports.
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The findings “were surprising, frankly, even to me,” Mackenzie told reporters. “BC was the shortest, actually. We only provide two of those nine services.
Adding to the political sting, the survey found that Alberta and Ontario, two provinces with Conservative governments, provided seven of the nine services.
Where BC’s senior supplement is just $99 per month, Alberta provides $286 and Saskatchewan $300.
“British Columbians have shown that they care very, very deeply about older people in this province and the government has shown, indeed, that they care,” Mackenzie acknowledged.
“What we need to do now is take advantage of this goodwill that we have, this care and concern, and find better solutions to the economic needs of our seniors as they age and allow everyone to live with dignity and some degree of comfort for all. of their lives, hopefully as much as possible in their own homes.”
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Mackenzie translated that release into 10 recommendations for the provincial government, including indexing the senior supplement to inflation and increasing financial assistance for older renters “to reflect the current reality of the BC rental market.”
“This will cost more money,” Mackenzie acknowledged.
The government’s recent budget update projected a $700 million surplus in the current year plus $2 billion set aside in each of the next two years for “priority initiatives to be developed for future budgets.”
While Mackenzie did not cost his recommendations, they should be affordable within the hundreds of millions of dollars New Democrats have saved for future political purposes.
But the New Democrats were in no rush to adopt Mackenzie’s recommendations.
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Cabinet ministers can be counted on to stand before the release of reports that are flattering to the NDP’s record.
On Thursday, the housing and health ministries resorted to email take-it-or-leave-it statements to the media.
Housing Minister Murray Rankin agreed that “older people deserve safe, affordable and decent housing” and stated that the New Democrats were in the process of providing just that.
Rental supports are also under review, he said.
The statement from the Ministry of Health claimed that the government has already provided $2 billion to improve care for the elderly, but admitted that “this report shows that more must be done to make life more affordable for the elderly.” .
Neither ministry acknowledged the finding that BC was last among provinces and territories in terms of support for older people.
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The pushback was typical of the NDP’s response to Mackenzie and the office of the ombudsman for the elderly.
She has angered the government multiple times during the pandemic, calling for more visiting privileges for seniors in long-term care and urging rapid testing of staff to keep COVID-19 at bay.
“This is not your area of expertise,” Health Minister Adrian Dix snorted in response to the call for rapid tests.
Mackenzie conducted her own review of flares in long-term care, one of the few independent exercises to date.
In his report, released last year, he revealed a lack of cooperation from medical health officials and public health personnel.
I understand that some officials were prepared to be interviewed.
Public health and the ministry discouraged them from doing so, and neither welcomed the independent scrutiny of the handling of the pandemic.
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Although Mackenzie is correctly described as a watchdog, the ombudsman for the elderly lacks the protections and powers of statutory officials in the legislature, such as the ombudsman and representative for children and youth.
She can request information. But she does not have the broad powers of the auditor general to examine confidential documents and subpoena witnesses.
The auditor general cannot be fired except by a two-thirds vote of the members of the legislature. Mackenzie could be fired by order of the cabinet.
However, I cannot cite any recent report from the Auditor General that blames the New Democrats as directly and as effectively as Mackenzie’s this week.
When the British Columbia Liberals established the office of the ombudsman for older people, the New Democrats, then in opposition, worried that the ombudsman would be reluctant to criticize the government for fear of being fired.
They wish.
In the eight years since his appointment, Mackenzie has shown no fear of speaking out.