A provincial election may be 20 months away but Ontario nurses have kick-started the campaign by unveiling a set of issues they want the provincial political parties to discuss and adopt when developing their platforms.
Entitled “Creating Vibrant Communities: RNAOs Challenge to Ontarios Political Parties”, the report was presented by Nurses Association President Wendy Fucile.
Fucile tells Bayshore Broadcasting News, the effects of the recession make the 2011 Ontario election even more important.
The Registered Nurses say tackling poverty and creating a cleaner environment, for example, are essential to the health of every Ontario resident.
Among the key areas the nurses want addressed in the upcoming budget are:
A poverty reduction plan with sustainable funding, an immediate increase in the minimum wage to 13.25 an hour and a fast-tracking of the provincial housing plan.
Fucile says the province also needs to adopt achievable targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and stop all coal burning at Ontario power plants by 2012.
In our exclusive interview with the RNAO President, Fucile says she wants the Ontario government to commit to hiring 9 thousand new nurses by late 2011, and an additional 9 thousand nurses after the next Ontario election.
President of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario, Wendy Fucile says if nothing else, they hope to generate discussion on some of the issues.