Mr. Speaker, during this National Nursing Week, I proudly salute my colleagues, the nurses of Quebec.
This year's theme “Nursing: At the heart of health care”, very accurately reflects the commitment of these health professionals who provide, often under difficult circumstances, quality care to patients and their families.
Not only do nurses have a demanding profession, both physically and emotionally, but now they have to cope with reduced staffing because of, among other things, cuts to health care due to the fiscal imbalance.
At present, in Canada, nurses are clocking 250,000 hours of overtime each week, or the equivalent of 7,000 full time jobs a year. It seems obvious to us that this is a situation that must be corrected as soon as possible, so that the quality of life of these nurses can be restored, both at work and outside health care facilities.
To the nurses of Quebec and Canada, on behalf of the Bloc Quebecois, I say thank you. We know that we can count on you.