Ontario Nurses' Website Urges Voters to Choose Care, Not Cuts

TORONTO, May 29, 2014 /CNW/ - The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) has updated its morenurses.ca website to urge voters to choose care, not cuts in the upcoming provincial election.

The website – www.morenurses.ca – complements ONA's radio ads that note that PC Leader Tim Hudak's election promises that could harm nursing care in Ontario – and include cutting nurses' pensions, increasing their workloads and freezing their pay.

"Ontario desperately needs more registered nurses," says ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN, "and as patient advocates, we can't let the damage to health care that was done during the Mike Harris years – of which Tim Hudak was a part – happen again. Mr. Hudak's proposals risk our patients' health and nurses are urging voters to choose care, not cuts in this election," she said.

The morenurses.ca site features new downloadable signs including, "I'm voting for more nurses," and several new shareable messages that nurses and the public can promote through their own social media accounts. ONA's new campaign radio ads now airing are posted on the site. In addition, a Message Your Candidates feature allows users to send an email message to local candidates, based on a user's postal code, asking her/his views on nurses in Ontario.

ONA President Linda Haslam-Stroud, RN says that ONA's 60,000 registered nurses and allied health professionals have been prompted to become politically active by the threats to their patients' health. Many ONA member nurses are distributing leaflets in their communities, talking about risks to patient care and the need for more registered nurses in Ontario.

"Registered nurses are among the most trusted professionals," notes Haslam-Stroud. "We hope Ontarians will take the time to visit our website and educate themselves on the implications to their health and that of their family and make an informed choice when voting in the June 12 election."

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: Sheree Bond, Cell: [phone]; [email protected]