Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman is debating donning an adult diaper to see if it provides enough protection for seniors in Ontario nursing homes, which some critics say lack proper care.

Smitherman came under fire at Queen's Park on Wednesday from a group of union representatives who are calling on the province to pass long-promised regulations for seniors care.

They said health-care workers in nursing homes are resigning from their jobs because of shabby standards of care in provincial seniors facilities. They want the province to mandate a minimum of 3.5 hours of personal care for residents each day.

"More staff [are needed] to assist with washrooms breaks so that seniors are able to maintain their continence levels and not be forced to wear incontinence products, which are contributing to serious skin breakdowns and high, high levels of indignities," said Candace Rennick, who works at a long-term-care facility in Peterborough.

Smitherman denies the claim, saying modern incontinence products are more absorbent than they were previously.

He said Wednesday he was "seriously considering" wearing an adult diaper to ensure a decision to use them at Ontario facilities was, in fact, appropriate.

"I've got one of these incontinence products — albeit a new one, not the ones that tend to appear at committee — on my desk and I'm really giving this matter very serious contemplation," Smitherman said.

"I said, 'How does a guy like me really actually figure out what's right about all this?' " he said. "Is a product that offers greater absorption capability an appropriate product or is that a front for some diminishment of care?"

His comments were disregarded by Sid Ryan, president of the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, who challenged the minister to "put on a diaper, and sleep in it all night long, and come into the legislature and wear it up until 12 p.m."

"Let him soil that diaper and lay around in it for the length of time that our seniors have to do in this province," said Ryan.

Premier Dalton McGuinty suggested all parties show due respect — and restraint — when discussing the topic.

"I know that it's easy to go and make fun of this particular issue, but it's really an issue of human dignity and I think we should try to keep that in mind," he said.

More front-line staff are desperately needed in seniors homes to make sure meals are served on time and keep residents mobile without resorting to wheelchairs, said Rennick, as well as to engage with them one-on-one throughout the day. 
 
"Unfortunately these small things in long-term-care facilities have become a long-lost luxury," she said.

With files from the Canadian Press