Ontario NDP stands with nurses calling for safe staffing and a fair deal

QUEEN’S PARK – Ontario NDP Shadow Minister for Health, France Gélinas (Nickel Belt), and Shadow Minister for Labour, Jamie West (Sudbury), have released the following statement in response to the hospital-sector arbitration decision affecting more than 60,000 ONA members:

“Nurses deserve safe staffing, real protections at work, and fair bargaining,” said Gélinas. “This arbitration decision ignores the urgent need for legislated nurse-to-patient ratios and rejects basic job protections, leaving nurses and patients at risk. Ontario already has the lowest number of registered nurses per capita in Canada. We should be working to close that gap, not make it worse.”

“We support ONA’s call for safe nurse-to-patient ratios, period,” said West. “Evidence is clear that safe ratios improve care and help retain nurses in our hospitals. The government must work with nurses to implement a real retention plan that addresses violence and burnout on the job.”

The decision also leaves nurses falling further behind, limiting wage increases to 3% and 2.25% while rejecting job-security improvements. That instability doesn’t just hurt nurses; it impacts the people they care for. Nurses need stability, respect at the bargaining table, and the tools to deliver safe care.

At the same time, Ontario hospitals are increasingly dependent on expensive private staffing agencies. Reducing that reliance and investing in full-time, permanent positions is better for patients, better for nurses, and better for the public system.

“This is not just about nurses, it is about the care Ontarians and their families rely on,” said Gélinas and West. “When nurses are stretched too thin, patients wait longer, families worry more, and the quality of care suffers. Ontario’s nurses have our full support, and we will continue to stand with them in pushing for safe staffing, fair compensation, and real respect at the bargaining table, because that is what every patient in this province deserves.”