Ontario Pre-Budget 2017: Nurses call for an Upstream Strategy

Ontario’s October unemployment rate has hit an eight-year low of 6.4 per cent (down from a peak of 9.6 per cent in June 2009), below the average in the rest of the country of 7.4 per cent,9 and the government projects that the rate will decline to 6.2 per cent by 2019.10 Figure 1 shows the trend in the unemployment rate since 1976. [...] On balance, it would be prudent to ensure strong domestic demand in the face of trade risks, particularly given the deficit in employment and given the need to reduce the adverse effects of poverty, as will be outlined in the next section. [...] After staying flat for four years, the minimum wage increased to $11.00 per hour as of June 1, 2014 and then increased again to $11.25 as of October 1, 2015 and to $11.40 per hour as of October 1, 2016.67 RNAO continues to support the community’s call to set the minimum wage 10 per cent above the Low Income Measure.68 RNAO estimates that figure to be about $14.78 as of November 2016 in contrast to [...] In January 2016, federal and provincial/territorial health ministers met in Vancouver to lay the groundwork for a new Health Accord, and they promised to work together on drug policy.195 The federal House of Commons Standing Committee on Health has been holding hearings on the development of a national pharmacare program,196 and this represents a good current opportunity to implement a pharmacare [...] During this initial visit, the complexity and stability of the patient is unknown and the RN will fully assess the care complexity and needs, develop a plan, and determine the most appropriate caregiver (i.e.