STRATFORD, ONT. — Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Wednesday he is doing everything in his power to add more health-care workers to the system, but indicated that won't include repealing wage restraint legislation or increasing a retention bonus for nurses.
Emergency departments across Ontario have been forced to close for hours or days at a time this summer due to staffing shortages.
The University Health Network in downtown Toronto issued an alert saying its cardio-vascular, cardiac and medical-surgical intensive care units have either reached their total bed capacity or do not have enough staff to keep all beds open safely.
Ford has not held a news conference in Ontario since late June and took questions Wednesday for the first time on the hospital crisis. He largely stuck to a message that most high-urgency patients are getting timely care and surgeries are being completed at close to pre-pandemic rates.
But, he said, the government is trying to add more staff to the system, including a target of hiring 5,000 more nurses and trying to speed up accreditation for internationally trained nurses.
"I appreciate the front-line health care workers, they work their backs off, day in and day out," Ford said after an unrelated announcement in southwestern Ontario.
"They're exhausted. I get it. And you know, we couldn't function without the great work that they do, the nurses, the (personal support workers), the doctors. Do we need more people? One hundred per cent we need more people. Are we willing to get more people? We're doing everything in our power to get more people on board."
Nursing groups, hospital executives, other health-care professionals and advocates have said that burnout after being on the COVID-19 front lines for more than two years and not being properly compensated have caused people to leave the profession in droves.
Many nurses point to Bill 124 as a major source of concern, saying that the legislation that capped wage increases for public sector workers to one per cent a year for three years has devalued their work.
Ford noted that the provisions expire and won't apply to their next contract negotiations, but didn't say that he would repeal it, adding that the government has offered nurses a $5,000 bonus.
"I also want to mention that they got the largest increase in the entire country," he said when asked if he would scrap Bill 124.
"It's a big thank you. When we gave you the $5,000 — you can call it retention, you can call it thank you — I appreciate the great work they do."
When asked if he would commit to paying them more, Ford said no one thinks the world of nurses and other health-care workers more than he does.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 3, 2022.
The Canadian Press
