West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky MP Pam Goldsmith-Jones says it’s fitting that the first Trudeau government cabinet minister to visit Sechelt was the seniors minister.
Goldsmith-Jones and minister Filomena Tassi were on the Coast Feb. 11 for a tour of the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre, a brief town hall session and a meeting with the Seniors Planning Table.
“I’m thrilled that the minister is here, and that we have a [seniors] minister,” Goldsmith-Jones said. “A lot of advocacy came from the Sunshine Coast for the need for either a seniors advocate or a minister.”
Although the activity centre has not yet received any federal funding for its recent expansion, it has benefited over the past couple of years from a $25,000 grant to replace the auditorium floor, as well as grants to improve accessibility and produce a play written by a local author, and Tassi got to see the results of that funding.
“It’s a beautiful facility, the expansion is brilliant, and it’s wonderful to see so many people enjoying the centre,” she said after the tour.
Tassi also said she looked forward to hearing from the members of the Seniors Planning Table.
Tassi said meetings like those “enable me to hear what the priorities are, and where families, organizations and seniors themselves think that there’s gaps where the government needs to do more… It’s absolutely remarkable how many Canadians are really engaged on the seniors file in terms of trying to ensure that as our seniors age, they can look forward to the years ahead.”
According to Tassi, the federal government is working to address housing issues for seniors as part of a $40-billion national housing strategy, as well as making it easier to age in place though financial support of home care and palliative care programs.
“Housing and income security are two of the areas that do come up quite often … because people are asset rich in many instances so it’s even being able to afford to stay in the homes they’re in,” she said.
