'It's not about the money': Quebec's bonus pay for nurses won't solve staffing crisis, groups say

Quebec nurses are criticizing the government's proposed plan to curb the critical staffing shortage in the province, saying it won't work because it doesn't address dismal working conditions in the public sector, which they say is a key reason nurses are leaving.

Yesterday, Quebec announced it will provide bonuses of up to $18,000 to full-time nurses, part-time nurses willing to work full-time and nurses that return to the public sector as part of its emergency response to the personnel crisis. 

But the vice-president of the Quebec Nurses' Association, which represents over 4,000 nurses and nursing students in the province, says throwing money at a problem that requires real change to working conditions is "ridiculous." 

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"It's not about the money," said Alex Magdzinski, the association's vice-president who has now left the public sector for the private one. "Nurses have been seeing these types of initiatives put in place for decades now."

Magdzinski says the Health Ministry's plan lacks real, sustainable, long-term solutions, and would like the government to look at options such as a ban on mandatory overtime, self-scheduling for nurses, a limit on hours nurses can work in a day, rigid nurse-to-patient ratios and proper work-life balance initiatives. 

"Unless you're ready to pay nurses double, maybe triple what they're paying right now, I don't really see that these financial incentives are going to work," he said.