Nurses in Ottawa and eastern Ontario exiting the healthcare system

An investigation by CTV News has found that Ontario's nurses are leaving the province's healthcare system in droves.

Many of them are being lured away by higher pay and better perks.

Data obtained by CTV News shows the number of Canadian nurses getting their papers required to work in the United States has more than doubled in the last five years to almost 1,700. 

It's a concerning trend that's happening right in Ottawa's backyard.

"A lot of people want to leave. I'm considering leaving too," says Josie, an ER nurse at the Pembroke Regional Hospital.

"One of my good friends is actually getting ready to go out to Alberta in two weeks," she says. "She just took a contract out there for a travel (nursing) company. She's going to make more money than here and travel a little bit.

"Why work here when I could go work in another province and make three times as much money?"

Rachel Muir, the Ottawa representative for the Ontario Nurses' Association says she is watching nurses leave the province in waves.

"And they're all voicing the same reasons," Muir tells CTV News.

"It's better work-life balance, better pay, more respect. It's the ability to care for their patients the way they trained to care for them."

Muir says the first step in fixing the problem is repealing Bill 124, an Ontario law that caps public sector wage growth at one per cent a year over three years.

"I think the biggest thing is wages," says Josie, who says she has been at the hospital for three years now. 

"Because unfortunately wherever you go you're still going to deal with a respect thing, and values and breaks and being short-staffed."

Josie just finished her shift at the Pembroke ER before speaking to CTV News. She says she left her co-workers short staffed in order to go home. The day before she says she worked two hours of overtime due to staffing shortages.

Josie says she feels guilty over thoughts of leaving nursing, but it is not the profession she envisioned.

"I've already looked into courses to take me out of nursing completely," she says.

"Going somewhere I can move up the ladder easier, make more money, and have more respect."