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With political advertising now under way in the provincial election campaign, Ontario's nurses union is aiming its darts at Tory Leader Tim Hudak and asking  voters to "choose care, not cuts."
Radio ads by the 60,000-member Ontario Nurses' Association  began Wednesday and say Hudak's plan to cut 100,000 public sector jobs would threaten health care, erode nurses' wages and pensions and generally make things worse. "Cuts like that will put your family at risk," the ad says.
The ads don't come out and say it but the message is pretty clear - if you want to protect health care, vote for the Liberals or NDP, not the Tories.
Hudak's plan to cut the public sector by 100,000 jobs over four years - through attrition retirements, buyouts and contracting out non-essential services - has been the focal point so far of the campaign for the June 12 election.
Hudak says balancing the books is critical to restoring Ontario's battered economy with one million private sector jobs over eight years.  And he says anyone who can't streamline 10 per cent of the workforce over four years - Ontario has 1.1 million workers in the broader non-federal public sector - to control spending "should not be seeking to be your premier."
All the public sector unions - including teachers, OPSEU and CUPE - have bitterly opposed the job streamlining plan, which also includes a two-year wage freeze on the broader public sector.
Premier Kathleen Wynne, whose Liberal government presided over a massive growth in the health and school sectors since 2003, says Hudak's plan harkens to the hard-right policies of former premier Mike Harris in the late 1990s.
Yet, before the election was called, Wynne's Liberals took a hard line in bargaining with public sector management unions, seeking wage and benefit concessions. Talks with teachers' unions and OPSEU later this year are also expected to be acrimonious no matter which party forms the next government.
Hudak has said he would not t0uch front-line health workers in his streamlining plan but go after health bureaucracies, such as local health networks that use up too much money and  provide little value.
Supporters of Hudak's proposal say any government facing a $12.5 billion deficit and a Greek style debt approaching $320 billion in two years - has to clamp down on the public sector if it wants to remain solvent without raising billions of dollars in new taxes.
Linda Haslam-Stroud, president of the nurses' union, said: "Nurses believe there are few issues more urgent than the need for more nurses in our hospitals, long-term care facilities and communities.
"The dangerous proposals of PC Leader Tim Hudak – including cutting nurses' pensions, freezing wages and increasing workloads – risk our patients' health and risk driving much-needed nurses out of the province. Ontario nurses are taking action," she said in a statement.
You can listen to the two ads, airing in rotation, at <a href="http://www.ona.org/morenurses" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.ona.org/morenurses</a>.  A  website (<a href="http://www.morenurses.ca/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.morenurses.ca</a>) will complement the  ads.
The association said that, over the next few weeks, many nurses will be handing out leaflets in their  communities, talking about risks to patient care and the need for more nurses in the province.
"Nothing is more important than our health and our health care system," said Haslam-Stroud. "As nurses, we are a pivotal part of the system and we advocate for our patients. This is an election in which voters need to hear the voices of nurses."

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Nurses’ union targets Hudak’s plan to cut public sector

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