For years, health care in Ontario has been severely underfunded, and health care workers have been critically underpaid and overworked. The COVID-19 pandemic forced health care workers into serious health and safety risks, which resulted in exhaustion, stress, and burn out. And while public sector wages have been curbed for more than a decade through a combination of underfunding and legislation, the cost of living has grown so bad that many public sector workers are taking on second jobs, using food banks, or are leaving the jobs they love for better paid work elsewhere.

We know Ontario spends far less than other provinces on paying public sector workers fairly. But we need to show the Ontario government and all the members of our provincial parliament that many Ontarians support investing in our health care workers and our health care system!

The Health Care Workers’ Coordinating Committee has launched the Support Our Care petition, aiming to get 60,000 signatures by the end of 2024. It’s an ambitious goal, we know. But we need to show the Ontario government and all the members of our provincial parliament that many Ontarians support increased funding into health care and health care workers!