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Empty nursing jobs in Ontario surge to 9,230

The number of vacant nursing jobs in Ontario has skyrocketed to 9,230. In the midst of health funding negotiations, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says that’s evidence that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must build up the public health care system — not make it worse by letting Doug Ford poach nurses and doctors to work in for-profit clinics.

According to Statistics Canada the 9,230 nursing vacancies are up from 2,250 when Justin Trudeau was elected in 2015. Filling those jobs would only maintain the status quo – experts say more nurses must be added on top of that.

“People are waiting in pain or spending hours in our emergency rooms to get care for their sick children because there aren’t enough health care workers,” said Singh. “With the new Canada Health Transfer, Justin Trudeau has a chance to make things better, by hiring more workers – or he could keep going down Doug Ford’s road and make the crisis even worse by inviting in for-profit clinics to poach health care workers from hospitals.

“The only way to fix health care is with health care workers. The NDP is going to keep pushing to recruit, retain and respect nurses — which means changes including better pay and more nurses on every shift.”

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