The devastating social and economic impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Canada have been felt widely. But the key statistic of the death rate has been heavily concentrated: over 80% of the deaths from COVID-19 have taken place in Long-Term Care of various types.
How did Long-Term Care – a vital component of the healthcare system – become so privatized, within a system that is so widely and proudly viewed as public?
This talk will examine the class politics of pension fund investment into for-profit Long-Term Care as a disturbing example of the commodification of social reproduction.
Kevin Skerrett is currently serving as a Fall 2020 Visiting Professor at the Institute of Political Economy at Carleton University. He was a co-editor of the Cornell University Press volume The Contradictions of Pension Fund Capitalism (2018). He is on leave from his work as a Senior Research Officer assigned to pensions at CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
Stephanie Ross, Director, School of Labour Studies, McMaster University, is chairing the seminar. The talk will be followed by a Q&A period.
Organizer: Institute of Political Economy, MA in Political Economy and Diploma in Work and Labour.