Quebec nurses have lowest starting salary in Canada


CBC
Thu, November 23, 2023 

Nurses with Quebec’s largest nurses’ union are asking for a 24 per cent over three years . (Ivanoh Demers/Radio-Canada - image credit)

Quebec has the lowest starting salary in Canada for nurses who obtain their university degree, according to data comparing collective agreements by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions.

Back in October, the Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), Quebec's largest nurses' union, demanded "significant salary increases" to salary and bonuses to account for years of lost income.

They are asking for an increase of 24 per cent over three years in addition to an annual indexation to inflation. That's far off from the 14.8 per cent increase Quebec is offering to public sector workers over five years.

At $53,000 per year, Quebec nurses starting out in entry level positions are making 40 per cent less than Ontario nurses whose salaries begin at $74,000. In British Columbia, that number is closer to $78,000, $75,000 in Alberta and $73,000 in New Brunswick.

Once Quebec nurses reach the top of their pay scales, the gap between nurses here and Quebec narrows to a 13 per cent gap, but it's still below the Canadian average of $96,615

Natalie Stake-Doucet, assistant professor in the faculty of nursing at the Université de Montréal, says nurses have been underpaid for a long time.

Natalie Stake-Doucet, assistant professor in the faculty of nursing at the Université de Montréal, says nurses have been underpaid for a long time. (Radio-Canada)

The data also shows that Quebec nurses have the most hurdles to reach the top of the pay scale with 18 pay echelons compared to nine in Ontario and just six in Saskatchewan.

According to Natalie Stake-Doucet, assistant professor in the faculty of nursing at the Université de Montréal, nurses have been underpaid for a long time.

"The 24 per cent increase may seem substantial, but it is to compensate for several years of catching up that we have to do and to help retain nursing staff here in Quebec," said Stake-Doucet.

Denis Cloutier, the president of the Syndicat des professionnelles en soins de l'Est-de-l'Île-de-Montréal, the union representing health-care workers in Montreal's east end, echoed the same message from the picket line.

"There is a lot of catching up to do with the years of inflation we have been suffering through," said Cloutier.

'There is a lot of catching up to do with the years of inflation we have been suffering through,' says Denis Cloutier, the president of the Syndicat des professionnelles en soins de l'Est-de-l'Île-de-Montréal.

'There is a lot of catching up to do with the years of inflation we have been suffering through,' says Denis Cloutier, the president of the Syndicat des professionnelles en soins de l'Est-de-l'Île-de-Montréal. (Radio-Canada)

In recent years more Quebec nurses are opting to work in Ontario.

Between 2019 and 2022, the number of Quebec's registered nurses applying to positions in Ontario jumped from 224 to 435, according to data from the College of Nurses of Ontario (CNO). The number of nurses with Quebec addresses registered to work in the neighbouring province increased by nearly 30 per cent.

Quebec has 82,000 nurses compared to Ontario which boasts nearly 200,000 nurses.