PCs promise 148 new long term care beds for Waterloo region

Waterloo region will get 148 of the 6,000 new long term care beds promised by the Ontario government Wednesday.

The Village of Winston Park in Kitchener will get 97 of the new beds and Saint Luke's Place in Cambridge will get the remaining 51.

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"It give people, you know, a healthier environment to live out some of the later years of their life," said Kitchener-Conestoga MPP Mike Harris.

"We're very cognisant of our aging population here in Ontario and we want to make sure we're putting our best foot forward to help that."

Harris said the new beds are part of a larger plan to add 30,000 new long term beds over the next 10 years.

More hospital beds promised

On Wednesday, the Conservative government also promised to fund 1,100 hospital beds including 640 new beds across the province, in advance of the 2018-19 flu season.

"These are meaningful early actions we are taking to end hallway health care," said Christine Elliott, minister of health and long-term care, when the beds were announced.

In October 2017, the previous Liberal government gave hospitals an additional $100 million before flu season to create more hospital beds.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the Liberal commitment, and the latest spending by the PCs, falls short of the $300 million she said is needed to help address hospital overcrowding.