Ontario is offering all nurses incentive pay of up to $5,000 per person to encourage job retention.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says the payments are meant to support nurses as the province recovers from the pandemic.
The government has priced the plan at $763 million and payments will come from employers in two instalments, in a lump sum for full-time nurses and as a prorated payment for part-time and casual nursing staff.
Elliott says the bonus will apply to all nurses, including ones who work in hospitals, long term care homes, or in the home care system.
She notes the province is now working with employers to roll out the first payment within the “next few months”.
Ontario is also working with the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO) to deploy internationally trained nurses to hospitals and other health care settings as well as getting nursing students training in the field sooner.
This comes as the Ontario Nurses Association and others have been battling against the province to repeal Bill 124; which limits registered nurses, nurse practitioners, and health-care professionals wage increases to a maximum of one per cent total compensation for three years.
I was thrilled to be in Belleville today to announce a historic investment in our nursing workforce.
A retention incentive of up to $5,000 will support nurses so that Ontarians continue to have access to the care they need.
Thank you to Ontario's nurses.https://t.co/1WfRL9AseW pic.twitter.com/PEdP3FJC1T
— Christine Elliott (@celliottability) March 7, 2022
(With files from Katie Nicholls and Tim Davidson)
