Dear editor,
The federal and provincial governments have approved the sale of Retirement Concepts (BC’s largest provider of residential care and assisted living), to Anbang Insurance.
Anbang is a massive Beijing-based multinational corporation with a murky ownership structure, and no experience in health care.
Even before this planned sale, B.C.’s senior advocate reported that 91 per cent of B.C. senior homes are not meeting the governments staffing guidelines.
It is hard to imagine that once these senior homes are run by a multinational corporation, staffing levels will be increased. Instead, things are more likely to get worse. Foreign investor rights enshrined in current or potential international trade agreements could result in loss of control over the qualify and staffing levels both now and in the future. Surely no one is naive enough to think a corporation will not make cuts and reduce services if their profits are not high enough to keep investors happy.
This sale to an overseas insurance company would represent a great loss of accountability and control over the provision of seniors’ care, and it would send a signal to other international investors that our health care is for sale to the highest bidder. Already, 37 per cent of long term care beds are owned and operated for profit.
We should not expand this dangerous trend; we need publicly funded not-for-profit care for our seniors who need it. And we should definitely not be putting them at the mercy of a faceless overseas corporation.
Michele Lampron
Jeanie Pennington
Courtenay