Health-care advocates have raised a flock of red flags over the sale of Retirement Concepts, B.C.’s highest-billing for-profit nursing home chain, to a Chinese multinational insurance giant called Anbang. Anbang’s ownership has been described as “murky” and “nebulous” and appears to be tied to high state officials.
The deal was recently approved by the federal Liberals and this week, after a hasty “due diligence” review, the B.C. government sealed the deal by granting the required licences for 20 seniors’ care facilities for which Retirement Concepts netted almost $90 million in tax money from the province in the last fiscal year.
Dismissing concerns about the change in ownership, B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake took aim at critics of the deal, accusing them of “fear-mongering … with seniors and their families around the issue.” He assured anyone who would listen that seniors were “very well protected” and everything was A-OK.
However, Lake admitted that he wasn’t privy to details of the sale, which falls within the federal realm. Navdeep Bains, the federal minister responsible, said the deal was approved because it “will result in a net economic benefit to Canada.”
Sounding like an automaton from Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau studiously avoided direct questions from the interim Conservative leader on Anbang’s ownership and the government’s aims regarding China. “The government continues to be open to investments that create middle class jobs, economic growth, and long-term prosperity for Canadians,” Trudeau said. He added that Anbang’s corporate front in Canada, dubbed Cedar Tree Investment, “has confirmed a strong commitment to the ongoing quality of operations of Canadian retirement residences and to its health care workers.”
So we’ve got a strong commitment from a secret company in China and glib assurances from globalist politicians who aren’t telling us anything. As one ancient Shorncliffe resident would put it: “Wow.”
There are all kinds of legitimate concerns related to entrusting the care of our seniors to an outfit like Anbang, especially in light of international trade agreements that can tie the hands of future governments and cost taxpayers dearly in penalties. And as Margaret McGregor and Lisa Ronald, both experts in the field from UBC, wrote recently in the Toronto Star: “Once large companies own nursing home property, governments become increasingly dependent on these chains for services and are less able to terminate contracts, remove residents from poorly performing facilities, ensure standards are maintained or control the costs of care.”
Red flags galore – and the biggest one is the utter lack of sincere disclosure coming out of the mouths of our glorious leaders.
