Hon. Deb Matthews
Minister of Health and Long-Term Care
Hepburn Block
10th Floor
80 Grosvenor Street
Toronto, ON M7A 2C4

January 30, 2012

Dear Minister Matthews,

RNAO Recommendations to the CNA National Expert Commission on Transforming the Health-Care System

Address income inequality as a key determinant of mental and physical health, linked to lower life expectancy, greater exposure to environmental damage such as climate change and toxics, decreased educational performance, increased violence and decreased social mobility.

Strengthen Canada’s publicly-funded, not-for-profit health care system and reject efforts to commercialize or privatize health care delivery.

My name is Laura Hanson and I am a nursing policy analyst with the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). RNAO is the professional organization representing more than 30, 000 registered nurses who practice in all roles and sectors across Ontario. We appreciate the opportunity to participate in these public consultations.

Dear RNAO Members,

We are writing about an urgent development that has the potential to detrimentally affect all nurse practitioners in Ontario and their clients. On September 6, 2011, leadership of the RNAO and the Nurse Practitioners Association of Ontario (NPAO), an expert interest group of RNAO, met with representatives of a new group calling itself the Academy of Nurse Practitioners Association (ANPA). We convened this meeting to better understand the objectives of ANPA and the reasons for its formation.