Minister Sylvia Jones: I'm Sylvia Jones, Ontario's Deputy Premier and Minister of Health.
This week is Nursing Week, a time to recognize our incredibly dedicated nurses for the extraordinary work they do each and every day to care for Ontarians.
On behalf of Premier Ford and the Ontario government, I want to express my heartfelt appreciation to all the registered nurses, registered practical nurses and nurse practitioners across Ontario.
Nurses are the foundation of our health-care system and Ontarians rely on nurses to provide high-quality, expert care at every stage of life.
We are so grateful to all of the nurses across Ontario for their ongoing dedication to our health and well-being.
Under the leadership of Premier Ford, we are protecting and growing our nursing workforce. Since 2018, we have seen a record-breaking over 100,000 new nurses licensed to Ontario's workforce with another 30,000 studying at Ontario colleges and universities to become nurses.
And we are not stopping there. We are expanding nursing enrollment, providing free tuition for nursing students, accelerating nursing education, expanding the scope of practice for nurses, and reducing barriers for nurses from other jurisdictions so they can join the health workforce and start caring for Ontarians sooner.
Thank you to Ontario’s world-class nurses.
Your hard work and dedication to your patients and our families is truly commendable. Together we will protect our province's nursing workforce for years to come.
Happy Nursing Week.