Labour Day 2022: Front-Line nurses, health-care professionals vow to protect public healthcare

TORONTO, ON, September 3, 2022 – The 68,000-member strong Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA), Canada’s largest nurses’ union, is marking Labour Day 2022 more committed than ever to protecting publicly delivered healthcare for all Ontarians.

“The current government’s unprecedented war on the very people who have devoted their careers to caring for others has only strengthened our resolve to advocate for our patients, residents and clients,” says ONA President Cathryn Hoy, RN. “The pandemic has put the spotlight on the very real and devasting harm that privatization causes when it creeps into the public system that every Canadian so values.”

Hoy says we are at a turning point in Ontario and believes the Ford government has created the current healthcare system crisis in order to justify privatizing it.

“The nursing shortage is a direct result of not just the neglect of governments, but also the policies of government that were no doubt intended to send nurses running for the exits,” she says. “However, as patient advocates, our commitment and solidarity has only been strengthened. We will do everything possible to prevent the harm that introducing private profit into healthcare will cause to our patients.”

Hoy encourages Ontarians to pay attention to the actions of the province and speak out. “We are strong and united, and would welcome support from the people we vow to protect,” she says.

ONA is the union representing more than 68,000 registered nurses and health-care professionals, as well as 18,000 nursing student affiliates, providing care in hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, clinics and industry.

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For interview, please contact: 

Sheree Bond shereeb@ona.org