Page 4 - December 2023 News On 7

IN THE NEWS

SHOVELS BREAK GROUND ON TWO NEW LTC HOMES IN BELLEVILLE, MADOC
AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLE: DEREK BALDWIN

Ontario Minister of Long-Term Care Stan Cho helped break ground Friday on two
major long-term care projects in Belleville and Madoc expected to bring 288 new
LTC beds to the region.
Cho was on hand to put shovels in the ground with owners of the proposed 160-
bed Neighbourhood Better Living home on Sidney Street in Belleville — set for
completion in 2025 – accompanied by Ontario Energy Minister Todd Smith, Bay of
Quinte MPP.
They were joined by Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis and city councillors Paul Carr and Garnet Thompson. Cho also broke ground
on the Clare McFaul Long-term Care Home with owners in Madoc which will see 128 new beds completed by 2025. The
construction starts follow Premier Doug Ford government’s pledge to build 30,000 new seniors’ beds in the province by
2028 as well as bring 28,000 existing beds up to modern standards for a total of 58,000 new and improved beds to meet a
growing, greying population across the province.
Friday’s kick-start of two new seniors’ homes locally is among 67 long-term care home projects now under way by the
province that were fast-tracked by Ontario. In his remarks at the Belleville groundbreaking, Cho said Ontario’s commitment
to the newest LTC home in the city represented an initial “one-time funding of $4.2 million as well as $82.2 million over five
years. Of course, our support doesn’t end there. There is operational funding over 30 years up to $222 million which means
the total investment into Belleville into Neighbourhood Better Living is $362.2 million over 30 years.”
“It’s a great day for Belleville but let’s remember, the job is not done. We have an aging population, we have record
immigration coming to Ontario,” he said. “We need to keep investing in our seniors.” Asked by The Intelligencer after the
ceremony ways his ministry is working to win back the trust of Ontarians after a series of horrific discoveries of elder abuse
and abysmal living conditions in seniors homes in the Greater Toronto Area during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cho said
concrete actions have and are being been taken to fix a system that was long neglected.
To continue reading click the link: https://www.intelligencer.ca/news/shovels-break-ground-on-two-new-ltc-homes-
in-belleville-madoc