Transportation and Ambulance Fees Among Biggest Election Issues For Seniors

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The Dauphin Senior Centre says a new transit bus would go a long way in helping the city's seniors.

Seniors Vote 2016 recently named transportation as one of their key issues heading into the upcoming provincial election.

The issue was recently amplified in Dauphin, after a local man gave a proposal to the city to get a new 20-seater wheelchair accessible bus, which he said would cost around $10,000.

Senior Centre Administrator Andre Lorrain says better public transit would improve seniors' health greatly.

"From my own personal experience with seniors who are sheltered, a lot of it is because they can't get out. They don't have the means to get out, whereas if they did have the means to get out into the public and socialize, their health gets better. Not only their psychological health, but their physical health."

Another big issue Lorrain says many Dauphin seniors face are ambulance fees.

Manitoba's NDP, Progressive Conservatives, and Liberals have all pledged to cut or eliminate ambulance fees for at least some people if elected.

But with fees where they are now, Lorrain says some are choosing to avoid ambulances altogether.

"Sometimes, people will either choose to drive themselves or just not go until they're in dire straits and have no other option but to seek an ambulance. So I think that would change a lot for our seniors."

Lorrain believes seniors' issues right now are bigger than they ever have been, since more and more baby boomers are becoming seniors every year.

Voters head to the polls April 19.