Inform yourself about the issues in the June 7 election.
People in Ontario elect a new government on June 7. As registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and nursing students, it’s up to us to make sure important health issues are on the agenda.
To guide you through this campaign, we have created a number of resources including our own policy platform, Improving Health for All. These policy priorities are based on extensive research.
Read more about RNAO’s platform in the interactive graphic below.
Nurses urge all parties to:
- Locate care co-ordination and RN care coordinators in primary care settings
- Require that all new nursing hires in tertiary, quaternary and cancer care hospitals be RNs
- Require that all first home health care visits be provided by an RN
- Legislate health human resource standards in long-term care so that there is at least one NP for every 120 residents, and a staffing mix that consists of 20 per cent RNs, 25 per cent RPNs, and no more than 55 per cent personal support workers
- Ensure nurse practitioners work to their full scope by authorizing them to perform point-of-care testing, order all diagnostic imaging and ECGs, complete all medical forms for mental health services, and by expanding their authority to certify a death
- Ensure RNs can order lab tests, communicate a diagnosis and prescribe medications for common ailments
- Integrate RN prescribing into the baccalaureate nursing curriculum by 2021
- Allow RNs to continue initiating the controlled act of psychotherapy
Nurses urge all parties to:
- Implement a universal, single-payer pharmacare program that covers all medically necessary prescriptions without deductibles, co-payments, user fees, and means testing
- Invest $10 million to support oral care for low income adults and seniors
- Continue to support the use of evidencebased practices in long-term care homes to promote and sustain improvements in resident health; and review funding models in long-term care so that funding is not cut when homes deliver better outcomes
- Provide every Ontarian with their personal health record
- Work with Indigenous communities and their leaders to tackle basic social determinants of health, and prevent child and youth suicide
Nurses urge all parties to:
- Maintain the commitment to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour by Jan. 1, 2019, with no exemptions for age or sector
- Invest one per cent of Ontario’s budget ($1.5 billion) to build new affordable, accessible housing and fix existing units in need of repair
- Create 30,000 supportive housing units for people with mental health and addiction challenges over 10 years
- Work with other levels of government to address homelessness and ensure adequate shelter space
Nurses urge all parties to:
- Ensure that the provincial carbon pricing system allows Ontario to meet its greenhouse gas emission targets
- Make polluters pay for the full cost of the pollution they create
- Work with federal and municipal governments to ensure dedicated and sustainable revenue sources to pay for the expansion of transit and active transportation
Nurses urge all parties to:
- Build a more progressive tax system
- Increase sources of revenue that encourage environmental and social responsibility
- Reject the sale of any publicly-owned crown corporations and government assets
- Ensure transparency and accountability in all fiscal measures and transactions
+ Click to expand
We also recommend voters examine the political platforms of each of the four political parties. We’ve created a platform comparison, which compares the various platforms of the parties with our asks. And, we’ve posted responses to key questions we asked the parties on health and social policy.
We hope you find these helpful so you can make an informed choice when casting your vote.
The platform is just one of many ways that nurses are speaking out during the election campaign.
A series of all-candidate meetings are taking place across the province, with nurses leading spirited debates.
RNs, NPs, and nursing students across the province are also taking part in our annual Take Your Politician to Work event, to show Ontario’s political leaders the important work that our province’s nurses do every day.
