Premier Ford’s First Budget Misses the Mark on Building Capacity in our Health-Care System

TORONTO, April 11, 2019 – With the release of Premier Doug Ford’s first provincial budget, Ontario nurses are questioning how the government intends to build more capacity in the health-care system to bring down lengthy patient wait lists and to deliver on its promise to end hallway health care for Ontarians.

“The government has talked about integration and coordination in the health-care system. Nurses and our patients were hoping to see evidence and clarity of this in the budget,” said ONA President Vicki McKenna, RN.

“While we haven’t seen full details of Premier Ford’s plans to restructure our health-care system, the budget seems to add more complexity to the puzzle, particularly on the government’s intention to restructure public health.”

Added McKenna, "The government must address the health care needs of Ontarians now and tell Ontarians what it intends to do to retain our highly skilled and experienced RNs and attract new RNs. The government must also build extra capacity for much-needed health services. This is critical as we deal with both an aging health workforce and an aging and expanding population. We need to have the right staffing for the increasingly complex care demands of our patients in all settings across Ontario."

McKenna said ONA is more than willing to meet with the Ford government to discuss ways to improve the health-care system.

ONA is the union representing more than 65,000 RNs and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, industry and clinics.

For more information:
Melanie Levenson (416) 964-8833, ext. 2369; mlevenson@ona.org

Ken Marciniec (416) 964-8833, ext. 2306; cell: 416-803-6066; kenm@ona.org