Ontario Nurses Take Action: Nurses leaflet communities to urge voters to choose care, not cuts

LONDON, ON, June 2, 2014 /CNW/ - Nurses in the London area will be out in the community today to hand out leaflets urging voters to choose care, not cuts in this provincial election.

The nurses – members of the Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) – are in London to participate in ONA's Leadership Development Program. The nurses are handing out leaflets that point out that Ontario doesn't have enough registered nurses, and that Tim Hudak's cuts will worsen the situation and harm our patients' care.

The leafleting will begin between 3:15 and 3:30 p.m. today and continue for approximately one hour in the neighbourhoods surrounding the following intersections: Gainsborough Rd. and Aldersbrook Rd., Aldersbrook Rd. and Ardsley Rd., Aldersbrook Rd. and Lawson Rd., Hyde Park Rd. and Fitzwilliam Blvd., and Hyde Park Rd. and Prince Phillip Dr. The members will go door-to-door, dropping information in mailboxes and engaging the public in conversations where possible.

ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, says the local efforts are part of a province-wide campaign in this election; radio ads and a website – www.morenurses.ca – urge voters to be informed about the PC's platform and make an informed decision when casting their ballots.

"In the worst attack on nurses since Tim Hudak was last in government, during the Mike Harris days when thousands of nurses were fired, Mr. Hudak now proposes freezing nurses' wages, cutting their pensions and worst of all for quality patient care, privatizing health care," she says.

Haslam-Stroud says that nurses across the province are speaking out and taking action against these regressive policies.

"Our members across the province have volunteered during their free time to work on phone banks to alert their colleagues to the threats to health care, have distributed leaflets to their communities and ensured they are making well-informed choices when they vote in this election," she says. "If Ontarians care about their health care, they should do the same."

ONA is the union representing 60,000 front-line registered nurses and allied health professionals as well as more than 14,000 nursing student affiliates providing care in Ontario hospitals, long-term care facilities, public health, the community, industry and clinics.

Visit us at: www.ona.org; www.morenurses.ca; Facebook.com/OntarioNurses; Twitter.com/OntarioNurses

SOURCE: Ontario Nurses' Association

Ontario Nurses' Association: Ruth Featherstone, [phone] ext. 2267; [email protected]; Katherine Russo, 416) 964-1979, ext. 2214; [email protected]