Policy and Political Action

Policy & Political Action

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Speaking Notes

  • Speaking Notes: Presentation to the City of Toronto Budget Committee
    Thursday, December 8, 2011 - 00:00

    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.

    As a Budget Committee, you are facing a choice. Will City Council apply creative remedies to the task of building a healthy city? Or will you impose restrictions and cuts that will negatively impact the well being of all of Toronto’s residents and will, within certain communities, have devastating consequences?

    RNAO is speaking here today because nurses are acutely aware of the critical link between social and environmental conditions and health. We work in schools, hospitals, offices, shelters, long term care facilities, on the streets and in patients’ homes. Nurses hear and see the struggles that people, especially those on social assistance and in low-paying and precarious jobs, face to get basic necessities such as food, shelter, clothing, child care, recreation services and transportation.

  • Speaking Notes: Bill 186, Supporting Smoke-Free Ontario by Reducing Contraband Tobacco Act, 2011
    Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 23:00

    Good morning. My name is Doris Grinspun, and I am the Executive Director of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). With me today is Rob Milling, Director of RNAO’s Policy department. RNAO is the professional association for registered nurses who practise in all roles and sectors in Ontario. Our mandate is to advocate for healthy public policy and for the role of registered nurses in enhancing the health of Ontarians.

    RNAO was proud to represent Ontario’s nurses on the vitally important Tobacco Strategy Advisory Group (TSAG), a panel of health experts established to advise the government on a five-year plan to build on the successes of the Smoke-Free Ontario strategy.

  • Speaking Notes: Bill 173, Preserve Access to Quality of Health Care Information
    Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 23:00

    Good afternoon. My name is Rhonda Seidman-Carlson, and I am the President-elect of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). With me today is Kim Jarvi, of RNAO’s Policy department. RNAO is the professional association for registered nurses who practise in all roles and sectors in Ontario. Our mandate is to advocate for healthy public policy and for the role of registered nurses in enhancing the health of Ontarians.

    The 2011 Budget was a cautious budget, and RNAO greeted it with qualified approval. There was limited new spending and no new taxes. The resulting budget deficit was projected to drop to 2.5 per cent of GDP in the coming fiscal year, compared to 3.3 per cent and 2.7 per cent in the previous two years. In those years, the government had responded to the economic crisis by deficit spending in order to help avert a full-blown collapse. There was broad domestic and international consensus on the necessity of deficit spending under the circumstances and nurses supported the approach. Given that unemployment in Ontario and Canada remain stubbornly high in spite of some economic recovery we caution our provincial and federal governments to be careful to avoid tipping their economies back into recession by prematurely cutting deficits.

  • Speaking Notes: Darlington Nuclear Project
    Friday, April 1, 2011 - 18:37

    RNAO Speaking Notes – Doris Grinspun, Executive Director, RNAO

    Joint Review Panel – Darlington Nuclear Project

    April 1, 2011

         
    The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional organization representing registered nurses in Ontario. It is the strong, credible voice leading the nursing profession to influence and promote healthy public policy.

    We appreciate the opportunity to make a submission to the Joint Review Panel on the proposal by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) for site preparation, construction, operation, decommissioning and abandonment of up to four new nuclear reactors at the existing Darlington Nuclear site near here on the north shore of Lake Ontario.

  • Speaking Notes: Bill 140, An Act to enact the Housing Services Act, 2010, repeal the Social Housing Reform Act, 2000 and make complementary and other amendments to other Acts
    Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - 23:00

    Good afternoon. My name is Wendy Fucile and I am the Immediate Past President of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario.

    The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional association for registered nurses who practise in all roles and sectors across this province. We work to improve health and strengthen our health-care system.

    RNAO appreciates the opportunity to present this submission on Bill 140 to the Standing Committee on Justice Policy.

  • Speaking Notes: Bill 141, Health Protection and Promotion Amendment Act, 2011
    Monday, March 21, 2011 - 23:00

    Good afternoon. My name is Doris Grinspun, and I am the Executive Director of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). RNAO is the professional organization for registered nurses who practise in all roles and sectors across Ontario. We appreciate the opportunity to address the Standing Committee on Social Policy on Bill 141.

    Nurses are in a unique position to provide feedback on a pandemic response. We are the health professionals who deal directly with members of the public during a pandemic and help coordinate and provide care. Safeguarding the public by preventing the rapid spread of virulent sickness and disease is without question, a high priority.

    At the outset, I extend, on behalf of RNAO our warmest congratulations to the Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Arlene King, on her courageous and expert leadership.

  • Speaking Notes: Safety of Nuclear Technology (Greenpeace/RNAO Media Conference)
    Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - 23:00

    Thank you, Shawn-Patrick. The Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) is the professional organization representing registered nurses in Ontario. It is the strong, credible voice leading the nursing profession to influence and promote healthy public policy.

    Like all Canadians, and people around the world, our hearts go out to the people of Japan who are dealing with unthinkable tragedy. We admire their courage and resilience even as the full extent of the disaster is still unknown.

    We know that the best and brightest of the world’s nuclear technologists and engineers are working around the clock to prevent further catastrophe and we wish them all the best. As their efforts on the other side of the globe inspire us with hope, our government and the nuclear industry here in Ontario assure us it could never happen here and we have nothing to worry.

  • Speaking Notes: Recession Relief Coalition Hunger Inquiry
    Friday, October 22, 2010 - 23:00

    Good Morning. My name is Lynn Anne Mulrooney and I am Senior Policy Analyst at the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. RNAO is the professional association for registered nurses who practice in all roles and sectors across the province.

    Thank you to the Recession Relief Coalition for organizing this Hunger Inquiry on what is literally a life and death issue. From our daily nursing practice and from the overwhelming evidence, nurses know that not having access to nutritious food and affordable shelter is why those with lower incomes are sicker and die earlier compared with those who have more resources. Today we will be hearing from a variety of compelling speakers who will be able to tell us more about some of the evidence linking hunger and poverty with poor health. We will hear from people with direct experience of being hungry, health care providers who witness the negative impacts of short-sighted public policy on the health of their patients, and researchers who are helping us understand the big-picture patterns of what is happening to large segments of our community because of these harmful policies.

  • Speaking Notes: Bill 101, Narcotic Safety & Awareness Act, 2010
    Monday, October 18, 2010 - 23:00

    Good afternoon. My name is Maureen Cava and I am a member of on the Board of Directors for the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). With me today is RNAO’s Senior Policy Analyst, Lynn Anne Mulrooney.

    RNAO is the professional association for registered nurses who practise in all roles and sectors across this province. We represent over 30,000 registered nurses. Our mandate is to advocate for healthy public policy and for the role of registered nurses in enhancing the health of Ontarians.

    We appreciate the opportunity to present this submission on Bill 101 to the Standing Committee on Social Policy.

    Bill 101, if passed, would allow the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) to collect, monitor, and analyze information related to prescription narcotics and other controlled substances dispensed to anyone in Ontario through an electronic database.

  • Speaking Notes: Rally to Put Food in the Budget
    Thursday, October 14, 2010 - 23:00

    My name is Amarpreet Kaur Ahluwalia and I am delighted to be here this evening on behalf of Ontario’s nurses. I am a diabetes nurse educator and like other registered nurses across the province, I see every day why it is urgent from a health perspective to immediately increase social assistance by $100 per month as a first step toward income adequacy.

    In my nursing practice, I have the privilege of working with a woman who has had to go to the emergency room twice a month for the last three months because of chest pain. This pain is linked to cardiovascular disease connected to diabetes caused by lack of access to nutritious, fresh food due to dangerously low social assistance rates. High blood sugar levels and lack of access to healthy food leaves people tired, most susceptible to infections, and often with difficulty concentrating. Single moms are eating once a day so that their children don’t go hungry. New immigrants are having to choose between buying food or buying medication. I can’t talk about the importance of Canada’s Food Guide to many of my patients because it is insulting to ask people to buy fresh fruits and vegetables when they can barely afford their rent. One of our patients came to the community health centre so hungry after not having eaten for two days that he had to stop on the way in to the appointment to eat some raw vegetables from the clinic’s community garden. Food is our life source—not having access to nutritious food is part of the reason why those with lower incomes are sicker and die earlier compared with those who have more resources.