I’m proud to read this petition in support of our registered nurses here in Ontario. It’s entitled “For Fair and Equitable Compensation for Nurses.
“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
“Whereas the government has a responsibility to ensure safe and healthy workplaces and workloads for nurses by enhancing nurse staffing and supports across all sectors of the health system;
“Whereas the RN-to-population ratio in Ontario is the lowest in Canada, and Ontario would need 24,000” registered nurses “to catch up with the rest of the country;
“Whereas there are over 10,000 registered nurse vacancies in Ontario;
“Whereas nurses are experiencing very high levels of burnout;
“Whereas registered nurses have experienced real wage losses of about 10% over the last decade;
“Whereas the government of Ontario needs to retain and recruit nurses across all sectors of the system to provide quality care for Ontarians; and
“Whereas the Ontario government needs to retain and recruit RNs to meet their legislative commitment of four hours of daily direct care for long-term-care ... residents; and
“Whereas wage inequities across the health system make it particularly difficult to retain and recruit RNs to community care sectors, such as long-term care and home care;
“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to implement evidence-based recommendations to retain and recruit nurses, including fair and equitable compensation that is competitive with other jurisdictions in Canada and the United States.”
Of course, I will be signing this petition, and I will be giving it to page Harris.