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Bill 133, Health Care Honours, Employment, Retention, Optimization and Empowerment Strategy Act, 2026

Shamji, Adil

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First Reading Ordered for Second Reading

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Bill 133 Original (PDF)

EXPLANATORY

NOTE

The

Bill enacts the Health Care Honours, Employment,

Retention, Optimization and Empowerment Strategy Act, 2026 . The Act

requires the Minister of Health to develop and publish a health care worker

support strategy. The necessary elements of the strategy are set out.

Provisions

respecting reviews and reporting on the strategy are included. A financial

penalty is set out if the Minister of Health fails to meet a deadline under

this Act. Related regulation-making powers are provided.

The Act also amends the Public

Hospitals Act to increase the maximum term of appointments to the

medical staff of a hospital from one year to three years.

Bill 133 2026

Act to provide for the development of a health care worker support strategy

respecting honours, employment, retention, optimization and empowerment and to

make related amendments

CONTENTS

Definitions

Health

care worker support strategy

Report

to the Assembly on payments

Financial

penalty for missed deadline

Regulations

Public

Hospitals Act

Commencement

Short

title

His

Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the

Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:

Definitions

(1) In this Act,

“health

care setting” means any location in which clinical care is provided to a

patient, and may include the patient’s home; (“milieu de soins de santé”)

“health

care worker” means an individual who provides services in a health care setting

that directly impact patient clinical care; (“travailleur de la santé”)

“high-risk

environment” has the meaning set out in the regulations; (“milieu à risque

élevé”)

“Minister”

means the Minister of Health or such other member of the Executive Council as

may be assigned the administration of this Act under the Executive

Council Act ; (“ministre”)

“Ministry”

means the ministry of the Minister; (“ministère”)

“prescribed”

means prescribed by the regulations; (“prescrit”)

“regulations”

means the regulations made under this Act; (“règlements”)

“strategy”

means the health care worker support strategy required by subsection 2 (1). (“stratégie”)

Services

that directly impact patient clinical care

(2) For

the purposes of the definition of a “health care worker”, a service provided by

an individual directly impacts patient clinical care if it is provided,

(

a) by

the individual to a patient to support the patient’s clinical care; or

(

b) within

a health care setting to support a patient’s clinical care, even if it does not

require the individual to have an encounter with the patient.

Health

care worker support strategy

(1) The Minister shall, on or before the day

that is six months after the day on which this Act receives Royal Assent,

develop and publish a health care worker support strategy respecting honours,

employment, retention, optimization and empowerment that contains the contents

specified in subsection (2).

Elements

(2) The

strategy must contain at least the following elements:

1. A

framework to collect the following statistics and to ensure that the statistics

are publicly accessible and updated on at least an annual basis:

i. Recruitment

and attrition data on the health care work force, broken down by health care

profession, health care setting, age and gender.

ii. Current

and projected health care worker vacancies, which must be presented in a manner

that will assist health care organizations and regions in planning for the

vacancies and attracting health care workers to areas of high need.

2. A

plan to conduct and publish the results of an annual survey of health care

workers that assesses their job satisfaction, well-being, mental health, burnout

risk, prevalence of burnout and job safety, which may be conducted through,

i. representative

sampling, or

ii. a

whole population survey conducted by the Minister or, if appropriate, the

Minister acting in co-ordination with the health profession colleges or other

regulatory bodies.

3. A

mechanism to ensure that the data collected under paragraphs 1 and 2 inform

actions that are directed towards ensuring safe staffing levels in health care settings.

4. A

timeline for the Premier, the Minister or a delegate of the Minister to formally

apologize on behalf of the Government of Ontario for unconstitutionally breaching

collective bargaining rights by introducing the Protecting

a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 and to

provide a public re-affirmation of their commitment to uphold the collective

bargaining rights of health care workers.

5. A

plan to implement a system that recognizes the contributions, sacrifices and

accomplishments of health care workers, which must include the following:

i. The

recognition of a Health Professionals’ Week during the third week of June in

each year.

ii. The

introduction of the following two new provincial honours and distinctions:

A. The

Exemplary Service Award, which is to be presented to health care workers who

have completed 20 or more years of service and have performed their duties in a

manner that exemplifies good conduct, industry and efficiency.

B. The

Health Care Worker Distinguished Conduct Medal, which is to be awarded to

health care workers who have displayed exceptional courage, heroism, sacrifice

or service that,

1. is

conspicuously above and beyond the standard or duty of care, as defined by

professional or regulatory standards and by comparison with peers,

2. has

had a profound impact to patients or society, and

3. has

brought honour to their respective profession.

6. A

plan to ensure the following:

i. The

timely completion by the Minister of Health and the Minister of Finance of

negotiations and retroactive payments for the wages that were

unconstitutionally limited by the Protecting a Sustainable

Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 .

ii. Progress

towards wage parity for health care workers within the public system across the

home care, community care, long-term care, primary care and acute care

settings, with a particular focus on the need for fair compensation of health

care workers employed in home care who need to travel between different sites.

iii. Measures

to ensure wages are raised to competitive levels for all health care workers.

iv. Unrestricted

access to good-faith collective bargaining by unionized health care workers.

7. An

examination of novel approaches to employing health care workers to achieve

greater worker job satisfaction and to improve the long-term sustainability of

the health care sector, including consideration of the following options:

i. A

provincial retirement compensation scheme for health care workers that provides

options for phased retirements and that is designed to attract retired health

care workers to return to their practice.

ii. Maximum

patient-provider ratios to address unsafe, inconsistent and suboptimal staffing

levels in health care settings.

iii. Alternative

employment models that,

A. allow

greater flexibility in working hours and locations, and

B. reduce

barriers for health care workers to maintain their employment.

8. A

plan to establish a program to promote fair and predictable employment within

the public health care system, particularly in those regions with the greatest

need, through a publicly funded and led incentive program designed to retain

health care workers in underserved regions, such as northern and rural

communities.

9. A

plan for implementing the following mental health care measures:

i. Dedicated

crisis lines and pathways for therapy that are fully funded by the Ontario

Health Insurance Plan to address the unique needs and challenges of health care

workers.

ii. Measures to encourage the

Minister of Labour to amend the Workplace Safety and

Insurance Act, 1997 to provide that specified categories of mental

illness and burnout must be treated as having presumptively arisen in the

course of the health care workers’ employment, based on public consultations

with health care workers, health care unions and occupational health and

disability specialists.

iii. A

study to examine the causes of, and risk factors for, mental illness and

burnout that are distinct to health care workers in Ontario.

10. A

plan to establish a study into the impact of COVID-19 on health care worker

staffing and its long-term, ongoing impacts on staffing.

11. A

plan to establish the following workplace requirements for health care workers:

i. Standards

for ambient temperature and humidity in clinical environments that meet or surpass

the ambient temperature and humidity standards in the document entitled

“Occupational Health and Safety Directive”, prepared by the National Joint

Council and dated March 1, 2022, or any later version of that document that is

prescribed.

ii. Standards

requiring access to water, purchasable food and secure, comfortable spaces for

breaks, eating and sleeping, where sleeping is required, along with secure,

convenient and ample storage for personal belongings.

iii. Safe

and secure parking that is accessible during all times of the day for health

care workers and that is provided to them at no additional cost.

iv. Minimum

standards for safety equipment, personal protection and self-defence education that

must be provided by the employer to all health care workers who work in

high-risk environments.

v. Minimum

standards for protecting health care workers from threats, assaults and abuse,

including by,

A. requiring

mandatory reporting on prescribed classes of criminal acts, and

B. advocating

to establish a federal and interprovincial task force to explore Criminal Code

reform to address violence against health care workers.

vi. Assignment

of peace officers to high-volume emergency departments and other high-risk

clinical environments, where appropriate, in accordance with the prescribed standards.

12. A

plan to ensure fair, consistent and inclusive recruitment and promotion

practices with a view to ensuring equal opportunity, fair compensation and the

elimination of discrimination in the health care work force.

13. An

education plan to ensure that health care workers have opportunities to expand

their skills, knowledge and expertise without undue burden and that enables

employers to offer protected time for independent learning or supervised

training programs.

14. Measures

to reduce the administrative burden of employment in health care settings, such

as streamlining employment requirements, mandating reciprocal recognition of

clinical privileges, standardizing orientation training and implementing

measures to ease the institutional burden and requirements that relate to the

scrutinization of health care worker training or credentials.

15. Any

other prescribed matter pertaining to improvements to the health, well-being or

safety of health care workers.

Review

of strategy

(3) On

or before the fourth anniversary of the day this Act receives Royal Assent and

every four years after that, the Minister shall review the strategy and make

any amendments to the strategy that the Minister considers necessary to ensure

that the strategy best meets its stated aims.

Consultation

(4) Before

the Minister can make the initial strategy and before every review of the

strategy,

(

a) the

Standing Committee on Social Policy, or another standing or select committee of

the Assembly, must hold public hearings into the proposed strategy or amendment,

subject to any recommendations provided by the Committee; and

(

b) the

Minister must consider whatever comments and submissions that members of the

public have made on the proposed strategy or amendment and, if the Minister

determines it to be appropriate, amend the proposal accordingly.

Strategy

to be public

(5) The

Minister shall ensure that the strategy and any amended strategy are published

on a website of the Government of Ontario.

Report

to the Assembly on payments

3 Within one month after the day this Act receives Royal

Assent, the Minister of Health shall table a report in the Assembly on the

progress the Minister has made in ensuring that all retroactive payments for

the amounts that were unconstitutionally limited by the Protecting

a Sustainable Public Sector for Future Generations Act, 2019 have been

disbursed to health care workers.

Financial

penalty for missed deadline

(1) If the Minister does not meet a deadline

under this Act, the following rules apply:

1. The

Minister shall pay into the Consolidated Revenue Fund a penalty equal to 10 per

cent of the annual salary payable to the Minister under subsection 3 (1) of the

Executive Council Act .

2. The

Premier shall pay into the Consolidated Revenue Fund a penalty equal to 10 per

cent of the annual salary payable to the Premier under subsections 3 (1) and

(2) of the Executive Council Act .

Timing

of payment

(2) The

Minister and the Premier shall make the payments required under subsection

(1) within 30 days after the deadline that was not met.

Personal

payment

(3) An

amount payable under this

section shall be paid personally and shall not be

paid or reimbursed, directly or indirectly, from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Regulations

(1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make

regulations respecting any matter necessary or advisable to carry out

effectively the intent and purpose of this Act and, without limiting the

generality of the foregoing, may make regulations,

(

a) prescribing

anything that is referred to in this Act as being prescribed;

(

b) governing

the implementation of the strategy;

(

c) defining

the term “high-risk environment” for the purposes of this Act.

Consultation

before making certain regulations

(2) The

Lieutenant Governor in Council shall not make any regulation under clause (1) (

c) unless,

(

a) the

Minister has consulted with health care workers, health care unions and

occupational health and disability specialists on the proposed regulation; and

(

b) the

Minister has considered whatever comments and submissions that the occupational

health specialists have made on the proposed regulation and has reported to the

Lieutenant Governor in Council on what, if any, changes to the proposed

regulation the Minister considers appropriate.

Public

Hospitals Act

6 Subsection 37 (2) of the Public

Hospitals Act is amended by striking out “one year” at the end and

substituting “three years”.

Commencement

7 This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal

Assent.

Short

title

8 The

short title of this Act is the Health

Care Honours, Employment, Retention, Optimization and Empowerment Strategy Act,

2026 .

Date Bill stage Event Outcome Committee

June 1, 2026

First Reading

Ordered for Second Reading

June 1, 2026

First Reading

Vote

Carried

First Reading

June 1, 2026

Carried

Ordered for Second Reading