Quebec offers $1B to lure nurses back to public system amid staffing crisis

The Quebec government has announced it will give bonuses of $15,000 to full-time nurses, part-time nurses in the public system who are willing to work full-time and $12,000 to nurses who have quit if they come back, as part of its emergency plan to fix the staffing crisis in the health-care network. 

At the announcement Thursday afternoon, Premier François Legault said the plan would cost close to $1 billion, but that the government had to offer financial incentives as thousands of exhausted workers had fled the system during the pandemic. 

"Nurses have taken care of us for a long time. It's time we take care of them," Legault said.

Health Minister Christian Dubé said only 60 per cent of nurses in the public system work full-time, adding that that is "not enough."

He hopes the incentives will convince an extra 15 per cent to work full time and will also attract about 4,300 nurses back into the system.

Dubé said having more nurses working would improve schedules and significantly reduce forced overtime, which became a common practice during the pandemic. 

The government also hopes to reduce the widespread use of private temp agency workers.