Money budgeted for seniors can be put to good use, seniors' homes CEO says

The CEO of P.E.I. Seniors Homes says he's encouraged the federal government is once again putting some "serious" money into long-term care.

In Monday's budget, Ottawa committed $3 billion over five years for new national standards for long-term care.

The new money follows the billion dollars already spent to help get long-term care homes through the pandemic.

On P.E.I., Jason Lee said the sector will be giving Ottawa input on what the new standards should be and how the money should be spent.

He said he's hoping some of the money can be used on training and infrastructure.

"Across the country, we need about 42,000 additional new nursing beds over the next five years just to deal with the aging population and the demand," he said.

"There is no federal infrastructure money currently that works for long-term care. One of our biggest challenges is the need to staff our buildings. You know, we can build 42,000 new nursing beds over the next five years, but if we don't have the staff to operate them, we might as well not bother."

Lee said it's a challenge across the country to staff nursing homes and health-care facilities, and a national resource strategy would help.

More from CBC P.E.I.