Create nurses tax credit
Petitioners ask the House of Commons to amend the Income Tax Act to create a refundable federal tax credit for nurses — including RNs, LPNs/RPNs and nurse practitioners — modelled on the 2025 personal support worker credit.
Why we would sign this petition
- Provides targeted financial support to nurses, which could improve retention by easing cost‑of‑living pressures.
- Recognizes nurses’ frontline role and aligns with an existing 2025 federal tax measure, simplifying design and implementation.
- May strengthen access to public health services by supporting recruitment and reducing staffing shortages.
Why we wouldn’t sign this petition
- Adds federal spending or tax expenditure with fiscal trade‑offs; the petition does not specify cost or budget impacts.
- A tax credit may not address non‑financial drivers of nursing shortages such as workloads, workplace conditions or retention policies.
- Designing, targeting and administering the credit could be complex; direct measures like hiring, training or staffing reforms might be more effective.
The summary and both sets of reasons are AI-generated from the petition and given equal weight. Claims are the petitioners’ own; consult the official record for the full text.
Official petition
Petition to the House of Commons Registered nurses, licensed practical nurses (registered practical nurses in Ontario), registered psychiatric nurses, and nurse practitioners are essential to the functioning of Canada’s publicly funded health care system and provide direct, frontline care in every domain of health care in every region of the country; Canada is facing a persistent nursing shortage, driven in part by recruitment and retention challenges, heavy workloads, and rising cost-of-living pressures; In the 2025 federal budget, the Government of Canada introduced a refundable tax credit for personal support workers, recognizing the importance of supporting frontline health care workers through targeted federal tax measures; The federal government has clear authority under the Income Tax Act to use tax policy to support and retain essential workers in areas of national concern, including health care; and Providing a comparable federal tax credit for nurses would recognize their contribution and support retention and recruitment, thereby strengthening access to public health care services across Canada. We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to amend the Income Tax Act to create a refundable federal tax credit for nurses, including registered nurses, licensed practical nurses (registered practical nurses in Ontario), registered psychiatric nurses, and nurse practitioners, modelled on the personal support worker tax credit introduced in the 2025 budget.
Government response
No government response is available yet.