The Gallant Liberals on Tuesday responded to criticism of their nursing home fee plan with a surprise announcement in the New Brunswick legislature.
Social Development Minister Cathy Rogers announced details of the plan earlier than expected, saying the government prioritized finalizing the plan in response to the message other parties have been spreading.
“We’ve not been happy with the fear mongering going on and seniors being afraid of the worst-case scenario, so we have prioritized,” Rogers said.
The Opposition Tories described the move differently.
“We are seeing damage control because, again, last week there were no answers, no answers to the questions we had in question period,” said interim PC Leader Bruce Fitch.
In the details announced Tuesday, Rogers said only high-income earners would be affected by the cap on daily nursing home fees going from $113 a day to $175.
Currently, New Brunswick’s fee of $113 per day is the highest in Canada.
PC Social Development Critic Ernie Steeves said the policy as it’s laid out is a good start — but not good enough.
“Well, one of the things is the protecting of the house, that part of the asset, so I see that as good, but quite frankly the whole picture has to be changed,” Steeves said.
“They have to reverse it, reverse the whole policy,” he said.
The PC caucus says they won’t be happy until the seniors’ assets are dropped altogether from the policy.
“We are adamant that the asset grab should not be a part of this policy at all,” Fitch said.
Green Party Leader David Coon agrees.
“To dig into people’s savings isn’t right, and the minister needs to step back from that,” Coon said.
But it appears that’s not on the agenda for the government.
“This is a hard decision that has to be a part of good policy making,” Rogers said.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Nick Moore
