Without good staffing ratios, says the Ontario Nurses’ Association, Canada’s largest nurse union, there will be even longer wait times, possibly life-threatening delays and unreasonable workloads. While staffing ratios vary and are often not achieved in practice, the 2024 Patient‑to‑Nurse Ratios for Hospitals Act says a 1-to-1 staff-to-patient ratio is ideal within critical care, for example.