Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Extendicare. Before we begin, we acknowledge the land we're meeting on is the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wyandot peoples, and is now home of many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. We also acknowledge that Toronto is covered by Treaty 13 with the Mississaugas of the Credit. Thank you. I'm Alan Torrie, I'm your Chairman, and joining me today at the podium are Michael Guerriere, your President and Chief Executive Officer, David Bacon, your Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and John Toffoletto, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and our Corporate Secretary.
Also joining me today in the room are current fellow Directors Norma Beauchamp, Sandra Hanington, Heather-Anne Irwin, Donna Kingelin, Samir Manji, as well as Josh Blair, who is standing for election as a new director. Board member Brent Houlden could not be here in person, but is following these proceedings by our live webcast, and fellow director Donald Clow sends his regrets. Leslee Thompson, who is also standing for election as a new director, also sends her regrets, as she could not be here today. With that, we're about to commence the formal business portion of this meeting. Before doing so, I'd like to remind you that our remarks today, including answers to your questions, may contain forward-looking information.
By its nature, this information contains forecast assumptions and expectations about future outcomes, which are subject to the risks and uncertainties discussed more fully in our public disclosure filings. I'll now call the meeting to order. I will act as chair of today's meeting, and I will ask that John Toffoletto act as secretary to the meeting. For the purposes of today's meeting, I appoint Computershare Trust Company to act as scrutineer through their representatives, Josette Koffenberg and Heather Beckford. We are constituted this morning as the annual meeting of the shareholders of Extendicare Inc. Under the articles of the company, the common shares have attached to them a single vote per share. In order to facilitate the proceedings of today's meeting, I will present and move the proposals related to the items of business identified in the notice of the meeting.
This is in no way intended to influence or discourage any comments or questions from the floor. On the contrary, should any shareholder or duly appointed proxy holder wish to speak on any matter, please do so. In that regard, I would ask the shareholders or proxy holders to identify themselves by stating their name prior to speaking. If you have a question that relates to a specific motion, please ask it at the time that the matter of business is before this meeting. Any questions that are not in respect to a particular motion should be asked during the general question and answer session following the formal business of the meeting. Now we can proceed with the formal business of the meeting.
The secretary has provided me with a declaration affirming that the notice of the meeting was properly given to all shareholders entitled to receive notice and was accompanied by the management information circular and form of proxy or voting instruction form. Accordingly, with the consent of the meeting, the reading of the notice of this meeting will be dispensed with. The preliminary scrutineer's report on common share representation at today's meeting has been received, and it shows that there are more than 25% of all outstanding voting shares present, and therefore, a quorum is present. A final report will be prepared following the meeting. I therefore declare the meeting regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. I direct the secretary to attach the declaration of mailing and the scrutineer's final report to the minutes of the meeting.
We will now proceed with the first item of business, which is the presentation of the consolidated financial statements of Extendicare for the year ended December 31st, 2025, and the report of the auditors thereon. A copy of the 2025 annual report containing the financial statements and auditor's report was mailed to each shareholder that requested a copy. The report is also filed on SEDAR and posted on our website. Apart from presenting the financial statements, no further action is required to be taken by the shareholders on these financial matters. David, though, will be pleased to deal with any questions you may have at this time concerning financial statements. If any shareholder or proxy holder has a question, would they please rise and use one of the microphones provided?
Before you begin, please indicate whether you are a shareholder or a proxy holder and state your name. I'll pause for a moment to see if there are any questions from the floor. There are no questions from the floor. I'll carry on. I'm going to now proceed with the next item of business, which is the appointment of Extendicare's auditors. As indicated in the management information circular, KPMG LLP are the present auditors of the company, and the board, on the advice of the audit committee, recommends their reappointment. Therefore, I move that KPMG LLP be appointed as auditors for Extendicare at such remuneration as shall be fixed by the board until the next annual meeting of the company. As a proxy holder, I am advised that sufficient votes in favor of this motion were cast prior to the meeting.
We will now proceed to vote by a show of hands. All those in favor, please raise your hands. Any withheld from voting? None. I declare the motion carried. Thank you very much. I'm going to now proceed with the next item of business, which is the election of directors for the ensuing year. Before listing the nominees for election, I would like to take a moment to acknowledge that in addition to me, Donna Kingelin is not standing for reelection at this meeting. Donna has been a valued member of our board for over 10 years, and during which time she chaired the HR Committee and more recently, the Quality and Risk Committee, helping to build pivotal capabilities that are core to Extendicare's health service mandate.
On behalf of the management team and the Board of Directors, we are deeply grateful for Donna's meaningful contributions and dedicated service to Extendicare. I would also like to acknowledge and welcome two nominees who are standing for election to the board for the first time, Josh Blair and Leslee Thompson. Josh is co-founder and CEO of Impro.AI with a background in engineering and human resources, and telecommunications. Quite an unusual combination, Josh. Leslee Thompson is a corporate director and healthcare expert who most recently served as president and CEO of Health Standards Organization and Accreditation Canada. Each of them brings valuable experience and perspectives, and we are pleased to have them standing for election today. The board has fixed the number of directors to be elected today at nine.
The management information circular sets out the list of nominees for election as directors, who are as follows: Norma Beauchamp, Josh Blair, Donald Clow, Michael Guerriere, Sandra Hanington, Brent Houlden, Heather-Anne Irwin, Samir Manji, and Leslee Thompson. There have been no further nominations received in advance of this meeting. In accordance with Extendicare's advance notice bylaw, I declare the nominations closed. I move now that each of the individuals so nominated be elected as directors of Extendicare to hold office until the next annual meeting of the company, or until respective successors are elected or appointed. The vote for this item of business will be conducted by ballot. The scrutineers have distributed ballots to shareholders and proxy holders as they entered the meeting. The ballots for this item of business are blue.
If you have already voted by proxy and did not revoke your proxy prior to the commencement of this meeting, you should not cast a ballot. If you have not received a ballot and require one, please raise your hand now. I will now instruct you on the completion of the ballot. In the space provided on the ballot, please inscribe an X to indicate whether you are voting for or against, as the case may be. Please sign and print your name at the bottom of the ballot, and when you have finished, please hold up the completed ballot for collection by the scrutineers. I'm going to pause while any ballots are completed for collection. I think there's one being collected at the moment. I believe all ballots are now collected. As there are no more ballots to cast, I declare this poll closed.
The last scheduled item of business is an advisory resolution on the Board of Directors' approach to executive compensation, commonly called Say on Pay. This is an advisory vote, the results of which are non-binding. However, it gives shareholders an opportunity to provide important input on the company's executive compensation practices. The board, and in particular, the Human Resources, Governance, and Sustainability Committee, will consider the outcome of the advisory vote as part of its ongoing review of executive compensation and when considering future compensation policies, procedures, and decisions. At this time, I would invite you to ask questions with respect to the company's approach to executive compensation. If you have a question, please use one of the microphones provided. Before you begin, please indicate whether you are a shareholder or proxy holder, and please state your name.
Yes, we have a question. Please stand, address the mic, and state your name and whether you're a shareholder or proxy holder.
Thank you very much, Mr. Torrie. I'm a proxy shareholder. My name is Karen McKay-Eden. I'm concerned about what this massive increase in profits means for resident care in Extendicare homes. This past year, your profits increased over 28%, and your CEO, Michael Guerriere, received over $2.6 million in total compensation. That money could instead be used to benefit residents, but you choose to divert it through short-term gains and corporate salaries. Meanwhile, nurses in long-term care make about 10.8% less than hospital nurses despite providing similar levels of care. Disrespect and poor working conditions are pushing nurses and healthcare professionals out of long-term care, which impacts the quality of care that our residents receive. Aren't you concerned that as money goes to profit, residents are left with less? Without fair wages, benefits, and safe working conditions, nursing homes can't retain enough staff to provide timely, high-quality resident care.
Isn't it bad for Extendicare to have staff leaving and residents not getting the care they deserve? By prioritizing short-term profits, are you not creating conditions of care that are unsustainable and will lead to long-term problems? Thank you.
Thank you for your question. Let me start off by first indicating that we have the highest respect and highest regard for all our employees, especially our frontline employees, the PSWs, and the nursing staff that are face-to-face with our patients and our residents every day. We have continuously made great efforts, along with their assistance, to provide development and education, and also safe and productive working environments so that they can carry out those situations. We are also a company that prides itself in its overall quality. There have been a number of awards over the past year that the company has been noted for, particularly as it relates to our patient care.
I cite just one of them, which others could speak to in more detail, but that was when psychotropic drug use and the program that we put in place with the help of all the staff in Extendicare was noted on a North American basis as the benchmark for all people in long-term care to proceed with. What I'm trying to say is, it is not lost on us our responsibility for the quality of care that we give our patients. It's not lost on us the importance of those on the front line, particularly our nurses. It's also not lost on us that part of the ability to do that is to be able to continue to have a business model that produces the results that allows us to do that and even more in the future, and that's our intent.
Michael, do you have some comments you'd like to add to that?
Yes, a couple of things, Alan, that I think the shareholders and owners of the organization should understand. First of all, the whole concept that you can increase profit by reducing the amount of care we provide in our long-term care homes is actually impossible to do. Funding for long-term care is structured in a way that is dedicated for patient care, and if we don't spend that money on patient care, we have to return it to the government. So there is no possible way to skimp on care and then increase profit or sort of take money away from the bedside. This is a very important structural element of the entire long-term care sector in Canada. The second point that I want to emphasize is what Alan has talked about.
We measure our quality, we report our quality to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, as all players do in the sector, and that information is available to the public. Our results are better than the Canadian average by a significant margin, so we are very accountable for the quality that we provide. The third thing that I'll add is that this idea that somehow we're reducing the amount of care that's happening in the homes is a complete misconception. Across the country, in the aftermath of the pandemic, there has been a significant increase in the hours of care that are being provided in long-term care. In Ontario, it's gone from about 2.8 hours per resident day of direct care to four hours. A more than 30% increase in the number of care hours that are being received today compared to what it was five years ago.
There's no reduction in quality. There's no opportunity. Even if we wanted to take away from bedside care in order to increase profit, we wouldn't be able to do that. This is a misconception. I'll just leave you with one last point. Because I get asked a lot about shareholders and their participation in Canadian healthcare. We are a publicly funded organization. Virtually all of our revenue comes from government. Our shareholders and also the banking industry in Canada that supports us have helped us to put over $1 billion into building new beds and new capacity across Canada. As you'll hear in a few minutes, I'll talk about the projects that we still have in the planning phases that will involve another investment of CAD 1 billion or CAD 1.5 billion in building more capacity that's desperately needed across the country.
For that, we pay a very reasonable return in the form of dividends and in the form of interest payments to bondholders and mortgage holders. That enables us to provide the care that we're providing to more and more Canadians. All in all, I'm very, very proud of the quality that we provide, very confident that we are increasing the quality of care and the hours of care that we're providing to our residents.
Thanks, Michael, and thank you for the question. Are there any other questions from the floor? Not seeing any. If there are no further questions, I move on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibility of the Board of Directors that the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the company's management information circular delivered in advance of this meeting of the shareholders. As proxy holder, I am advised that sufficient votes in favor of the motion were cast prior to the meeting and will now proceed to vote on a show of hands. All those in favor, please raise your hands. Any withheld? Opposed? I declare the motion carried.
Okay, in respect to the election of directors, I've been advised by the scrutineer that based on the ballots and proxies deposited for this item of business, each of the nine nominees have received an affirmative vote of a majority of the votes cast. As such, I declare that the proposed director nominees have all been duly elected to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders, or until they resign, or their successors are duly elected or appointed. This concludes the proposals to be voted on at today's meeting. The exact number of votes cast in respect of all matters will be announced by way of a press release and filed on SEDAR, as well as available on our website. Having completed all of the business for which this annual meeting of shareholders was called, I move and declare the meeting to be terminated.
On behalf of the management and the board, thank you all for your strong show of support, your interest, and your continued loyalty to attending today's meeting. With the formal portion of the meeting now concluded, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on the past year and the progress Extendicare has made over the past decade. 2025 was an important year for Extendicare, and in many ways, a year that revealed the full potential of the transformation that the company's undertaken over the past several years. Extendicare has continued to advance a strategy focused on health services and improving access to care. The organization strengthened its platform, expanded its reach, and reinforced a business model designed to be more resilient, more scalable, and aligned with long-term demographic trends.
We have positioned Extendicare to play a meaningful role in addressing seniors' care across the continuum, from long-term care to care in the community and at home. As the company enters 2026, we do so with considerable momentum. The multi-year shift towards a service-focused, capital-efficient model has taken hold, enabling growth and value creation. Extendicare's foundation is strong. Strong strategically, financially, and operationally. That strength provides the shareholders with confidence in the company's ability to navigate the uncertainty that characterizes the current global environment while continuing to deliver the highest quality of care to Canadians. We take our responsibility seriously, our responsibility to Canadians and all stakeholders alike, not only in how services are delivered, but also in how the organization governs itself, supports its workforce, and engages with communities where it operates.
Extendicare continues to place a strong emphasis on quality, safety, and continuous improvement, guided by evidence-based practices and accountability at every level of the organization. My tenure comes to an end, and I want to express my gratitude for the opportunity to have been of service on Extendicare's board, including my nine years as chair. It has been a privilege to serve during a period of meaningful change for the organization and to support the transition to a strategy that positions Extendicare as a leading health services company in Canada. As I mentioned earlier, I would like to also recognize and thank my fellow director, Donna Kingelin, for more than 10 years of distinguished service on this board. Donna's leadership and contributions, particularly in strengthening the organization's people, quality, and risk frameworks, will have a lasting impact on Extendicare and those that we serve.
The board is entering its next chapter with both succession and continuity. Extendicare will benefit from the expertise and experience of our two new directors. Leslee Thompson, a healthcare expert, most recently served as President and CEO of Health Standards Organization and Accreditation Canada. She started her career as an ICU nurse before leading multiple organizations across the public and private sectors, including the CEO of the Kingston General Hospital. Josh Blair is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Impro.AI, a high-tech company that enables corporations and their employees to accelerate their growth through AI-powered workforce insights and performance mentoring. Josh is an engineer who worked for many years at TELUS in executive leadership positions, including many years as its chief human resource officer and executive lead for TELUS International and TELUS Health.
Leslee and Josh will bring new perspectives as they take Extendicare's health services-focused business model to the next level. As previously announced, Samir Manji will assume the role of chair following today's meeting. With Samir's seven-year tenure on the board and his deep experience in seniors care, I am confident that he will provide strong continuity as chair. Together with the other members of the board, Samir will continue to uphold the strong governance practices and methodological strategy execution that Extendicare has become known for. Looking ahead, I have great confidence in Extendicare's future. The market the company exists to serve is clear, enduring, and growing. Extendicare has the scale, the capabilities, and the leadership to continue expanding access to care, supporting Canada's evolving healthcare system, and delivering long-term value for shareholders. In closing, I thank our shareholders for your ongoing confidence and support.
I thank my fellow directors, the leadership team, and the thousands of dedicated team members across Canada whose work underpins everything Extendicare has achieved. I thank our partners, our advisors, and collaborators across the healthcare system who have enabled our success. As I complete my tenure on the board, I am confident that the foundation is strong, the purpose is clear, and the future is full of opportunity. With that, I'd like to welcome our CEO, Michael Guerriere, to the podium to make his remarks. Michael?
Thanks, Alan, and good morning, everyone. Really want to thank everybody for taking time to join us today. Without a doubt, this past year has been one of the most transformative years in Extendicare's history. We've achieved a number of firsts that break through barriers and bring new tools to bear in our continuing effort to meet the growing demand for seniors' care services. The demographics that underpin demand for care in Canada are relentless, necessitating continued focus on expansion to meet that growing need. Our vision that everyone in Canada have access to the care and support they need to live their best lives is not an abstract ambition. It's a practical and urgent need that is vested in Canadian values. It's the core of our strategy and guides our investments and our attention.
Every day, our network of long-term care homes and home healthcare teams across the country help people to live better, providing the care they need wherever they call home. Canada's population of seniors is growing at an unprecedented pace. The number of people aged 85 and over is increasing by about 4% each year. The first baby boomers are just reaching age 80 now, which means the fastest growth in the seniors population is still ahead of us. The resulting capacity gap is real. The Conference Board of Canada estimates the country will require more than 200,000 new long-term care beds by 2035. Despite ambitious construction targets, we are not building beds fast enough to meet that need. The wait list in Ontario alone has reached 50,000 people. To fill the gap, provincial governments across the country are investing in home-based care to relieve pressure on overburdened hospitals.
Extendicare is at the center of these efforts. Our home healthcare operations delivered a record 13 million hours of care in 2025. That represents an increase of more than 18% compared to the prior year. Organic growth generated a 12% increase, reflecting our investments in recruitment, retention, training, and technology. Enhanced scheduling algorithms improved our service reliability across urban, rural, and northern communities. The other 6% of that growth came from two quarters of volume from the acquisition of Closing the Gap, which closed on July 1st. That added approximately 1,200 caregivers, expanding ParaMed's capabilities in allied health services, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech language services. Earlier this month, we closed our acquisition of CBI Home Health. CBI's dedicated team of 8,500 members delivered more than 10 million hours of publicly funded home health care in 2025 in seven provinces.
With this acquisition, our annualized capacity reaches approximately 24 million hours of service. We now serve more communities in more provinces than ever before. CBI also adds specialized community services to our offerings. This is a model of care that provides support in residential settings with around-the-clock care for individuals with complex needs. These services are individually tailored and delivered in homes for three to five individuals. This expands our ability to provide care to people who need seven by 24 support, but who are not ideally suited to long-term care. We look forward to working with the outstanding team at CBI. I'm confident that by combining our platforms and our expertise, we will establish a new standard of care grounded in the dedication and professionalism our teams bring to work every day. Meanwhile, we continue to advance our long-term care redevelopment program.
In 2025, we opened Extendicare Crossing Bridge in Stittsville, bringing 256 new and upgraded beds into operation. This spring, we will open Extendicare Beauclair in Ottawa, and later in the year, Extendicare Forest Trail in Peterborough. Together, these modernized homes will bring 576 new and upgraded beds to the system. We also have five other homes comprising 1,152 beds under construction, and a further 17 projects that we are advancing through our development pipeline. With our joint venture partner, Axium Infrastructure, we continue to leverage our off-balance-sheet model to build new homes, generating development and management fees while recycling capital into new projects. Of course, we deeply appreciate the support we receive from the government of Ontario as we work to create more long-term care capacity across the province. Now, technology remains a strategic priority at Extendicare.
In 2025, we appointed Lee Geyer as our first Chief Data, Analytics, and Knowledge Officer. Lee is responsible for unlocking the value in our data, turning it into actionable insights, and deploying artificial intelligence to enhance execution. We use AI to analyze thousands of resident and family surveys, helping us to identify patterns and respond more quickly and more effectively to feedback. We use it to understand team member engagement data so we can better support the people who deliver care every day. We've launched an AI chatbot that gives frontline staff real-time answers to policy questions, reducing the time it takes to find the information that they need. These tools help care professionals make more informed decisions and to deliver higher-quality , more coordinated care.
Now, technology won't replace the compassion and the skill of our team members, but it will give them the tools they need to devote more time to care quality and customer service. Through our SGP Purchasing Partner Network, we leverage our scale and purchasing power to provide the seniors care sector with access to lower-cost , higher-value inputs. SGP now serves over 154,000 beds across Canada, an increase of 5% from the prior year. By making care delivery more affordable for the entire sector, SGP supports senior living operators right across the country. Now, we continue to be disciplined in our allocation of capital to drive shareholder value. We've built a strong balance sheet by retiring and refinancing debt, recycling capital from the sale of older properties, and generating stronger cash flows from operations.
In December, we completed a CAD 200 million equity private placement in support of the CBI acquisition, adding a number of new institutional shareholders. Earlier this month, we completed a $450 million inaugural unsecured note offering, supported by a BBB rating from DBRS, further strengthening our financial position. In March, we increased our monthly dividend by 5% for the second consecutive year. These increases reflect our confidence in our financial health and prospects for growth. It is gratifying that our mission and track record of execution have given the equity and debt capital markets the conviction to provide us with the financial backing we need to expand and thrive. Now, while progress and performance are important, Extendicare is first and foremost a people-focused organization. Each day, the company touches the lives of tens of thousands of people.
The seniors and patients who depend on us for care, the families who place their trust in us, and the team members who deliver compassionate, high-quality services in communities across Canada, including small, remote, and difficult-to-serve areas. More than 36,000 people come to work every day to deliver care with compassion and professionalism, and they are the heart of this organization. We continue to invest in them through skills labs and professional development programs. Our commitment to strengthening teams and improving service excellence is fundamental to our values. Now I invite you to take a moment to watch a brief video that captures how our work is expanding access to care and making a difference in the lives of the people we serve.
I have never felt cherished in my whole life. I came here. Isn't that stupid to say, in a nursing home, you feel embraced and loved and cherished?
Well, I think it's a fundamental Canadian value that we care for everybody in our society. Our older population actually built Canada as it currently exists, and so we owe them something.
The demographics shows that in 10 years, the demand for service will be significantly higher.
My mom is here. She's been on wait lists for five years. As she got more and more dependent, we were starting to get really, really worried. You have to win the lottery literally, or be very critical and in crisis, to be able to come here.
The wait list in Ontario alone is almost 50,000 people.
I felt guilt. I was worried about my mom. Every day was stress.
I think now is the time more than ever, that we need to reinvest in home care. Patients aren't meant to stay in the hospital. For the most part, we're supposed to go in, get some services and support, and then go back to wherever home is. When you go back home, that's where the real story begins.
We have seven projects under construction now to add capacity. We have 17 other projects in the pipeline that we're working on. We have a significant effort underway to add beds in long-term care and to add capacity in terms of the staff to go into people's homes to take care of them there.
Year over year, we've grown in our ability to meet more people in the community, and so the number of visits that we provide daily has increased significantly over the last several years. It's about being able to receive the services that you need to live your best life in the home that you live in, whether it's a home proper or communal care setting or a condo, you name it.
I look at everyone as a team who's caring for my mom, and I appreciate it because I can't.
Polls show that 96% of people would prefer to stay in their own homes for as long as possible. Fundamentally, we want to help people to keep that independence.
We are dedicated to retaining the best talent, the best people, to provide support and care to the patients and families that we serve, so that they're not waiting in hospital for what can be easily met in their community.
My mother's 100. You'll always still have a bit of stress, but I have long-term care and Extendicare to help me with that. Beautiful room, beautiful environment. It's just somewhere where somebody at 100 doesn't feel like they're 100 anymore.
We are here at Crossing Bridge. It's a brand new home. All the rooms are private. They have that dignity, they have that privacy. Our goal and our mission is to make sure that we're delivering the best care, that we are here for them.
I'll tell you, she's better looked after than at my house, because I'm not trained to look after a 96-year-old with dementia. She's better here. She really is.
Extendicare's promise to Canadians is that we will continue to expand our services to meet the needs of the aging population, to make sure everyone gets the care that they require in the setting that best meets their needs.
It's really living our values and trying to do whatever we can to help people live better.
It means treating my mother.
Like she was your own mother. Well, I think it's a privilege for us to be able to do this and help people to live their best lives as long as possible.
I couldn't have survived. I could not have survived without the lovely care I got in this place.
Every year, I say to myself, "We're not doing a video again," because I have so much trouble talking again after the video's over. That video captures the heartfelt appreciation that we hear from our residents and patients, and their families. I'm grateful to each and every team member across the country who show up with commitment and purpose every day. They make Extendicare what it is. Every step we take, expanding our services, investing in technology and innovation, building new capacity, welcoming new partners and team members, is really driven by our purpose to help people live better. It's really our privilege to serve Canadians, and it's a responsibility that we take very seriously. Now, before concluding today, I will take a moment to pay tribute to Alan Torrie, despite the fact that he hates it when I do this.
As mentioned earlier, Alan's departing Extendicare after 10 outstanding years as a member of the board. Alan's experience and inclusive approach to governance really enabled the transformation of Extendicare from a real estate-focused, organization to the health services organization we are today. That transformation created significant value for shareholders, but more importantly, it expanded access to quality care for tens of thousands of Canadians. Alan's careful stewardship and focus on succession and continuity have set us on a path to continued success that will endure long past his tenure on the board. On behalf of the management team, I thank Alan for his enlightened leadership and steady hand through some of the most challenging years the seniors sector has ever faced. Thank you, Alan.
Now, we're very fortunate to have a board that brings diverse expertise and a deep commitment to our stakeholders and the communities we serve, and I certainly thank them for continuing to steward our mission and strategy so capably as we embark on the next chapter of our growth. Finally, I extend my thanks to our shareholders for your continued confidence and support, and to the more than 36,000 Extendicare team members whose commitment to providing exceptional care is the foundation of everything we do. Together, we will not rest until our vision is realized, that everyone in Canada has access to the care they need to live their best lives. Now, that concludes my remarks, and we'd now be pleased to respond to any questions from shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders. If you have a question, please rise and use one of the microphones provided.
Good morning. My name's Monica. I'm proxy. I wanted to talk about the nurses and healthcare professionals at Extendicare across your 57 homes in Ontario that are bargaining with you right now for their next contract. We heard while nursing home CEOs are making record profits, nurses and healthcare professionals are trying to provide high-quality resident care with less staff, fewer resources, and residents that have more complex care needs, as you mentioned in your presentation. This is putting residents and workers at risk. Workers are organizing and taking action for their bargaining demands, and they want to know, this round of bargaining, will you put care over profit? Will you negotiate a new collective agreement with fair wages and safer working conditions? Thank you.
Thanks for the question. I do want to go back to my earlier remarks that we are dealing with a situation that has dramatically more staff and more resources than were there three, four years ago. Just want to correct that misconception that somehow there's less staff. Our management team knows that when it comes to bargaining in long-term care, we bargain collectively with all of the operators in Ontario. We do this as a group in order to manage the entire sector in an organized way. We will do what we always do. We will bargain with all of the unions that we work with.
I do want to thank the unions because I've found over the years that these bargaining sessions often yield significant improvements in the way we organize ourselves, in the way that we take care of people, the way we schedule our staff, because often we do things that are suboptimal, and we can learn from our staff in terms of how we can make improvements. Certainly, we are very active as advocates with the Ontario Long Term Care Association for increased funding. I think that's why we've seen a significant increase in the number of hours per resident day in recent years. As I said earlier in my remarks, those people that provide the care day in and day out on a seven by 24 basis are the heart of the organization.
It's always our agenda to find collaborative ways to work more effectively together, and I can guarantee we'll continue to do that.
Hi. Good morning. My name is Obi Jua. I'm a proxy holder. I had a few questions for you. Two on strategy, one on the funding model, and one on a more technical question. The first one is, essentially, capital out there right now is relatively plentiful. Debt and equity markets are both relatively cheap. Why are there not enough beds being built for long-term care facilities in general? That's my first question. In terms of strategy, I noticed that you split about 50% between long-term care and home health services,, and about under 5% managed care. I'm wondering if that is your target for now or is that the long-term target, are you trying to have a different mix in the future, and generally where you're going in that sense. Then you discussed the funding model for long-term care.
I was wondering, what is the funding model on the home health services area? Is it driven by hours? Is it driven by mandate? Is it driven by the number of, I won't say patients, but the number of clients? Finally, I noticed that most of the joint ventures have about a 15% equity holding by Extendicare. I was wondering what the logic was behind that, if it's an accounting issue, a technical issue, a tax issue or whatnot. Oh, yeah, and also I had a question about the operations in the London branch, but I think I could just try and catch one of you and ask that offline. Okay. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. I think I've got them all written down. The barrier to building capacity, so I'll just deal with them in order that you asked. That is a great question and it's often the case there's a multifactorial answer. There were long periods of time, if you look back over the last 20 years, when no capacity was built in the province of Ontario, and in fact, most other provinces. Those were policy decisions that were made at the time. We've been talking about the aging demographic for so long that I think people have become inured to the thing, and they don't hear anything anymore. It just kind of gradually sneaks up on you. It takes a crisis to galvanize action, right?
Certainly, the pandemic was a huge crisis that made everybody understand in more real terms not only the vulnerability of the long-term care sector, which had very aging facilities, I mean, that was a key vulnerability, but also the vulnerability of the acute care system. When you don't have capacity in the community to care for people, everything backs up into the hospitals. We saw those really agonizing periods when the hospitals were seriously over capacity. Nothing like a crisis to galvanize people's attention. Since then, we've seen huge funding in adding staff, as I mentioned earlier, about a 30% increase in staffing per bed, but also a big injection of capital. Of course, when you're thinking about building something, when you're at a standing start, I mean, the entire province of Ontario built about 600 beds in 15 years, okay, before the pandemic.
When you're starting from that position, and then you want to start all of a sudden building what the province of Ontario has targeted, 58,000 beds. From a standing start, it's difficult. It just takes time to create the capacity and bring together the architects and the construction companies. Then, of course, there was a period there where we were competing with a huge condo building boom, where it was very difficult to even get construction companies to bid on our projects. All of those kind of bottlenecks are now in the past, and we now have a significant construction agenda going forward.
I'm confident that we're going to make significant progress now in the future. If you want the best report that kind of gives you some of this detail historically, the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario publishes a chart that outlines the number of beds per thousand people over the age of 75. You can actually find it in my remarks from last year's AGM. There's a version of that chart in the deck, so you can find it on our website as well. That gives you kind of the picture of what the net effect of all those factors was. In terms of the kind of ideal balance between the various lines of business for Extendicare.
I think,, given just some of the challenges of building capacity in long-term care and the pace with which we can build new buildings, I think that home care is going to grow faster than long-term care for the foreseeable future. It is where most people want to be. People don't want to be in long-term care unless they absolutely have no other option. We're trying to build out care options that are more supportive of people in their homes so that they can stay independent for as long as possible. I expect that you'll see faster growth in the home care side of things than in long-term care for the foreseeable future. Then on home care, all of the services that we provide are government-funded.
The way that works is that hospitals and doctor's offices make referrals to government agency in each of the provinces where we provide service. The government then decides which operators will actually provide that service. The referral gets passed on to us, and we're paid in different ways, depending on the program. Sometimes it's a pay-per-visit , sometimes it's a pay-over-time for taking care of a person holistically and meeting all their needs over a longer period of time. Then, finally, there was a question about the joint venture and why a 15% equity holding. One of the key things that we wanted to do with our joint venture partners was to make sure there was a strong alignment of interests.
By Extendicare having a minority interest in the joint venture, we're very aligned in terms of how we want to manage those assets for the 30-year life of the licenses. Whether it needed to be 15% or 10% or 20%. 15% just seemed like a reasonable number. There was nothing particularly magical, but it was more the fact that we have a minority interest in the joint venture that was key. It's important to understand that we run the homes in the joint venture in exactly the same way as the homes that we wholly own. Even in our management structure, they're indistinguishable in terms of how we operate them. All very good questions. Any others? Okay. With that, thanks for attending, and we will share some refreshments.
I invite you to stay and, any other questions you might have offline, very happy to entertain them. Thanks very much.