Nurses across the country are raising their voices about the political issues they say threaten Canadian healthcare.
For the first time in its history, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is registering as a third-party advertiser ahead of the upcoming federal election.
As third-party advertisers, advocacy groups can enter the political advertising arena and run their own ads for or against different candidates, parties, or platforms.
The announcement coincides with the start of National Nursing Week in Canada, which the federation’s president Linda Silas says is “about saying thank-you and celebrating nursing.
"But if we really want to be patient advocates, we have to speak and speak out loud," Silas told CTV’s Canada AM on Monday.
Silas said nurses have four main concerns they would like politicians to address ahead of the Oct. 19 fixed-election date.
First, she said, there is a "lack of federal leadership in healthcare," and too much dependence on provincial governments. Nurses are calling for federal funding to be restored to help pay for healthcare across the country.
Second, Silas said nurses are looking for federal guidance to help the provinces provide healthcare for Canada’s seniors.
"That means safe long-term care and safe home-care, which we don’t have today," she said. "That’s scary for an aging population."
The nurses’ federation is also calling for a national prescription drug program to combat rising drug costs, and a human resources strategy that would address the aging workforce. According to the federation’s website, in 2013 the average age of a registered nurse in Canada was 45. In that same year, 26 per cent of registered nurses were 55 or older.
By registering as a third-party advertiser, Silas said the federation, which represents 200,000 nurses across the country, hopes to convince voters to make these issues a priority.
Third-party advertisers must register with the federal government, and there is a cap on how much money they can spend on their ad campaigns. The "base" limit for a general election with a 37-day election period is $150,000. This is adjusted for inflation and the length of the election period.
"There’s no national leadership there, so we really have to talk about healthcare in this federal election," Silas said. "Nurses across Canada, your frontline nurses, are very concerned where our healthcare is going. We have to educate the public on making wise decisions next fall."
