When the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ) presented the update of its list of demands in October, it sought “significant salary increases”.
Taking into account catch-up effects, annual increases and a bonus integrated into the collective agreement, the FIQ is calling for a total salary increase of 24% over three years in addition to annual inflation indexation.
Quebecers’ ability to pay means spending growth of 3% (per year), Finance Minister Eric Girard recalled in his economic update a few weeks ago. And we also offer this to public sector employees with 14.8% over 5 years.
Quebec has by far the lowest starting salary in Canada for nurses earning their university degrees, according to a compilation of collective bargaining agreements compiled by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.
At $53,000 per year, the gap between Quebec and Ontario is 40%, while the starting salary for the profession is $74,000.
At the top end of the salary scale, the gap with Ontario narrows to 13%, but remains below the Canadian average of $96,615.
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Comparative data also shows that Quebec is the place in Canada with the most steps before reaching the top of the pay scale. There are currently 18 in Quebec, 9 in Ontario and 6 in Saskatchewan.
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Natalie Stake-Doucet, assistant professor at the Faculty of Nursing at the University of Montreal
Photo: Radio-Canada
For Natalie Stake-Doucet, assistant professor at the University of Montreal’s Faculty of Nursing, the nursing profession has been underpaid for many years.
The 24% may seem significant, but it serves to offset years of backlog and also enable the retention of nursing staff here in Quebec.
The president of the Union of Healthcare Professionals of the East Island of Montreal, affiliated with FIQ, Denis Cloutier, meets in the middle of a picket line and reiterates that we are clearly in the field compared to the other provinces of Canada.
There is a lot of pent-up demand related to the years of inflation that we have just suffered.
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Denis Cloutier, president of the FIQ-affiliated Union of Healthcare Professionals of the East Island of Montreal.
Photo: Radio-Canada
As Health Minister Christian Dubé said on Tuesday together with his colleagues Sonia LeBel and Bernard Drainville, we will miss our target if we only talk about remuneration. […] In particular, the network must have a work organization.
The pension plan
In addition to salary, we consulted accountant Paul-Antoine Jetté to compare Quebec and Ontario nurse pension plans based on the same salary.
Roughly speaking, the Quebec plan ultimately appears to be a plan that offers a higher pension, even if the annual contributions are slightly higher, explains L’Indice editor-in-chief McSween and contributor to Radio-Canada’s Tout one morning.
Over 35 years of service can mean a difference of more than $10,000 a year, he explains.
The mechanisms for indexing pensions to inflation differ in the two provinces, as do taxes and the cost of living, which are generally higher in Ontario than in Quebec.
The structure of bonuses and overtime can also have an influence.
Davide Gentile’s report
Migration to Ontario
According to available data from the Ontario and Quebec professional associations of nurses, we have seen increasing interest from Quebec nurses to work in Ontario in recent years.
According to the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO), the number of applications from Quebec registered nurses increased from 224 in 2019 to 435 last year. The number of nurses registered with the CNO with an address in Quebec also increased by almost 30% to 1,562 nurses.
In contrast, the Order of Nurses of Quebec (OIIQ) saw the number of licenses issued to people with licenses in another province increase from 46 people to 112 last year.
There are more than 82,000 nurses in Quebec, more than half of whom have university education. There are almost 200,000 in Ontario.