Ontario nurses getting up to $5,000 incentive pay to stay on the job
The Ontario government is giving eligible nurses a $5,000 payment to help incentivize them to stay on the job.
According to the government, the $763-million investment will help to retain nurses across the health sector and stabilize the current nursing workforce in Ontario.
Eligible full-time nurses will receive a lump sum $5,000 payment, while eligible part-time and casual nurses will receive $5,000 in two installments.
The money will be given to eligible nurses through their employer, the government said.
"Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic nurses have stayed on the front lines with remarkable dedication and selflessness as they care for our sick and most vulnerable Ontarians,” Health Minister Christine Elliott said in a statement Monday. "This investment will support the nurses we currently have so that Ontarians continue to have access to the care they need during the COVID-19 pandemic and into the future."
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
According to the government, nurses eligible to receive the payment include nurses in hospitals, long-term care and retirement homes, home and community care, primary care, mental health and addictions, emergency services, and corrections, as well as range of other community based and developmental services including youth justice.
Nurses in a management or supervisory role who were redeployed to a direct patient care role during the pandemic will also qualify.
For part-time and casual nurses, to receive the first payment, they must be employed as of March 31, and to receive the second payment nurses must be employed on Sept. 1.
The announcement was immediately slammed by a collection of unions representing 85,000 nurses who labelled it as a "band air pay-as-you-vote gimmick."
"Nurses across the province are angry at once again being thrown crumbs by this government, instead of meaningful solutions to the health staffing crisis," Sharleen Stewart, president of SEIU Healthcare, said.
Nurse and health-care workers have been calling on the government to repeal Bill 124 – the Protecting a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act -- which has capped public sector salaries since 2019.
Nursing unions say the $5,000 won't retain and recruit nurses who are looking for "long-term predictability and support."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.