QUEENS PARK – The Ford Government is quick to react to the recent Statistics Canada release stating that Ontario’s employment has decreased by 27,400 in July.
“Our government continues to support homegrown companies and promote Ontario as the innovation and manufacturing gateway to North America. We will leave no stone unturned as we work around the clock to attract entrepreneurs and innovators who will support continuous job growth,” said Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.
In July, the Government of Ontario announced that Tata Consultancy Services is launching its fifth global innovation hub in Toronto to help Canadian companies develop, trial and adopt new technologies.
Fedeli stated that this move will create 5,00 new jobs and 100 new internships position across the country that will benefit recent graduates looking to get into the technology sector.
Moreover, Fedeli does boost about acquiring nearly $16 billion in transformative automotive manufacturing investments. The shift from fossil fuel-powered engines is electric has been a huge talking point from the Ontario Conservatives over the recent months.
The Ford government has been pushing hard to get the mining sector up and running in the north as critical minerals like copper are central to creating emission-free vehicles.
“Since our government first took office in 2018, more than 500,000 new jobs have been created,” Fedeli acknowledges.
However, what Fedeli doesn’t acknowledge is the decline in the health care professionals, which has been a constant issue for the north.
Fedeli said, “[i]t’s important now more than ever that we build on successful investments like this and work together to rebuild Ontario’s economy and foster prosperity for all people.”
However, these types of investments in Ontario’s future seem to be pulling in one direction.
According to the Statistics Canada’s Labour Force survey, the number of health care and social services workers in Ontario is down by 5,400 people compared to July of last year. There are 3,400 fewer of them just compared to the previous month — showing that the losses are accelerating.
In addition, nurses are working more overtime than ever before. The survey shows that 21.6 per cent of nurses were paid overtime in July.
The NDP clapped back at Fedeli in a release that states, “Every health care worker in Ontario, and anyone who has needed to go to the ER or is waiting for surgery knows how deep the health care crisis runs,” said NDP MPP Terence Kernaghan, the Official Opposition critic for Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. “The price people are paying — the long, painful waits and the awful hallway medicine — is the price of underfunding health care, and underpaying and disrespecting health care workers.”
To help end the health care labour shortage, CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions and SEIU Healthcare have issued a five-point plan that they want the Premier and Health Minister to implement immediately.
The measures proposed include the following:
- Support the existing workforce: staff up to reduce workloads; provide mental health supports; invest in making the hospital workplace safer for staff and patients; offer full-time employment; and invest in on-site support such as childcare.
- Increase wages to attract and retain staff. Bill 124 prevents that and should be repealed.
- Put in place financial incentives: to discourage retirements and enhance hiring and retention. Encourage staff to work additional shifts if safe for them to do so.
- Recruit with incentives for the thousands of nurses, paramedicals and others who are licensed and not working to help staff up our hospitals.
- Significantly expand post-secondary spaces for health disciplines: waive tuition and provide additional financial incentives to study and practice in Ontario.
"We have 20,000 unfilled hospital positions in Ontario and a workforce that is exhausted, demoralized and looking at the door after working through the pandemic, real wage cuts and in an environment that is often unsafe for them,” said Michael Hurley, President OCHU/CUPE. "With more hospitals potentially closing units, ICUs, and emergency departments, the government still has no comprehensive plan to staff up our hospitals and that is unacceptable. Turning this staffing crisis around is possible. The well-being of many Ontarians depends on our working together to solve it."
According to Statistics Canada, there are more than 45,000 healthcare sector job vacancies in Ontario. With aging and population growth, an extra 100,000 healthcare workers will be needed in just a few years to maintain services.
With a massive exodus from the workforce already underway due to an aging population, the Ontario government seems to be focused on maintaining the mining and automotive sectors without considering that an adequate investment into health care would ensure the population is healthy enough to continue to work.
