To the nurses like Tara: Thank you. Thank you for your commitment. Thank you for being there when the people of Ontario needed you, through the pandemic.

It’s so important that we acknowledge the excellent work that nurses have done, which is, frankly, one of the reasons why we brought forward the $5,000 nurse retention. The second Toronto course is coming forward in the weeks ahead, in the first couple of weeks in September.

We’re also expanding the supply and opportunities for people who wish to train as nurses in the province of Ontario, because we understand that there are so many opportunities with additional long-term-care beds being built, with 50 new hospital expansions in the works. We need more health human resources, and it is why we’ve invested $35 million to increase enrolment in nursing education programs in colleges and universities. The new spaces will introduce over 1,100 practical nurses and 870 registered nurses into Ontario’s health care system.

We will continue to work with the College of Nurses of Ontario. We will continue to work to make sure that internationally educated health care workers who want to practise in the province of Ontario get their licence quickly through those colleges. And that work can be ongoing, because I think you and I can both agree that we want more people working in our health care system in Ontario.