Parties have been offering a lot to seniors - but it’s not enough

Theglobeandmail.com
Oct. 8, 2015

For the first time in history, the number of Canadians over the age of 65 outnumbers those under the age of 15.

That fundamental demographic shift demands a thoughtful public policy response, because an aging population will have a significant impact on the health system, social services, the workplace and how we organize communities more generally.

That is why a number of groups, from CARP (formerly the Canadian Association of Retired Persons) to the Canadian Medical Association, have been pushing for a seniors’ strategy.

To date, all the major political parties have made announcements targeted at seniors - who vote in large numbers - but none has committed to implementing a seniors’ strategy.

That initiative got a significant boost Wednesday with the release of a new report from the Institute for Research on Public Policy, entitled “Designing a Seniors Strategy for Canada.”

The IRPP, to its credit, has been doing what governments - federal, provincial and municipal - should have been doing in preparing for the new demographic reality. In 2007, it launched a wide-ranging research program on the impact of aging, and has published 23 papers on topics such as care-giving, pharmacare, pensions and how to build age-friendly communities.

In its latest offering - from a task force led by IRPP president Graham Fox and featuring heavy hitters such as former health minister Anne McLellan and geriatrics guru Dr. Samir Sinha - the think tank provides a comprehensive summary of what a seniors’ strategy should include - a framework on which to build public policy, if you will.

The report’s strength is that it moves beyond the feel-good bromides about making life better for Canada’s burgeoning population of seniors that politicians dispense on the campaign trail every day in their obligatory visits to nursing homes to making 30 fairly precise recommendations about why a strategy is needed and what actions are required to give it life.

Just as importantly, the task force sets out clearly the four principles that need to underpin the development of a sound plan:

• The strategy must be national: The federal government must play a central role as a standard-setter, catalyst and funder of social change;
• The strategy must put the individual at the centre: The starting point has to be improving the care and support offered to seniors, and governments must dispense with jurisdictional disputes;
• The strategy must be comprehensive and integrated: The plan must not be limited to bolstering seniors’ access to sickness care services, because the built environment, social and economic policies, and other socio-economic determinants of health are just as important to health;
• Aging should not be treated as an isolated policy issue but as a factor to be considered in all policies: In other words, a strategy must aim to make society aging-friendly, not just create programs for the sick and frail.

Currently, about 16 per cent of the population (5.8 million people) are over the age of 65. By 2035, seniors will make up more than 25 per cent of the population (more than 10 million).

The report notes that while the aging of the population poses some social and economic challenges, the fact that Canadians are living longer, better and healthier than ever before should “be recognized as a triumph rather than a problem.”

“Older Canadians are creating new and different demands on government services, they also constitute a significant resource that can be deployed to address them.”

This is a refreshing counterpoint to the tired (and tiresome) analogy that we are about to be swamped by a grey tsunami.

In fact, the IRPP report stresses a point that we don’t hear repeated near enough, that what older Canadians really want is not an expansion of a system that waits for them, Grim Reaper-like, to get sick and die, but rather a coherent set of public policies that help them stay healthy and independent.

To that end, the task force stresses that there should be four over-arching goals in public policies:

• Ensure that seniors remain independent and engaged members of their communities for as long as possible;
• Ensure that older Canadians continue to lead healthy and active lives for as long as possible;
• Ensure the aging population has access to person-centered, high-quality care as close as possible to home;
• Ensure that the family members and friends who provide essential but unpaid care for seniors are acknowledged and supported.

None of this stuff is new, of course. But, as the baby boomers have slowly but surely aged over the years, we have spent a lot time talking about these issues, and done very little to actually improve services.

The new report is a call to action. Having a plan, a seniors’ strategy, is a starting point, and a necessary precursor to long-overdue action.