High-earning nurses proof of health-care crisis

Re: Sun shines on teachers, nurses in latest $100,000 salary list for region — April 2

The report of the record number of nurses on the annual Sunshine List is a testament to the incredible dedication of those nurses, and proof of Ontario’s dismal efforts to seriously address the worst nursing shortage in all of Canada.

The maximum salary of Ontario full-time hospital-sector registered nurses in 2023 finally reached a few hundred dollars over $100,000 for those with eight years’ experience. A new registered nurse earns tens of thousands less than that.

This comes following years of wage increases that were far less than the rate of inflation, and the now-repealed Bill 124, Premier Doug Ford’s wage-suppression legislation that targeted publicsector nurses.

The fact that the number of registered nurses earning more than $100,000 per year is increasing is proof of what the Ontario Nurses’ Association has been saying — Ontario’s nursing shortage is at crisis levels.

Our incredible registered nurses have given up time with their friends and families to fill empty shifts in our hospitals, working inhumane hours of overtime, in order to keep the system functioning for their patients.

We have seen all too clearly the impact of the nursing shortage in this province: hospital emergency departments closing at an alarming rate, cancelled surgeries and long wait times.

We are also seeing the rise of hospital budgets being spent on nursing agencies — private corporations charging two to three times more per hour to supply nurses to fill vacant shifts.

Every resident of this region should be grateful to the nurses on the Sunshine List. They are dedicating their lives and time off to care for you.

Erin Ariss, president, Ontario Nurses’ Association