Several health care organizations have expressed worry about the effects the Government of Ontario’s OSAP pause will have on the supply of health care workers in the province. Ontario Personal Support Workers Association Executive Director Miranda Romanovicz told CBC that private career colleges graduate 86% of personal support workers, and that current demand means the sector could face shortages even if funding is restored by early next year. OPSEU local 679 President Don Symons, who represents paramedics in the province’s north, echoed Romanovicz’s comments. “Any pause or any decrease in the number of available, trained, and certified paramedics has the potential to add to an already strained staffing crisis,” said Symons.
