On Monday, Quebec Health Minister Yves Bolduc stressed that patients must not be sufferers as a result of the ongoing contract negotiations between nurses and the Government.

The comment by the Minister came after as many as 5 nurses at the Pierre-Boucher Hospital in Longueuil blatantly refused to work their shifts on Sunday night in the Intensive Care Unit as they demanded an assurance that they would not be asked to work extra hours.

The 5 nurses, who revealed that they are regularly required to work overtime, did show up at the hospital but preferred to adopt a work-to-rule routine and tended only to dire emergencies.

Similar protests have been held by nurses at the Maisonneuve-Rosemont, Haut-Richelieu and Charles LeMoyne hospitals.

"For me the most important thing is that nobody -- no patient -- should suffer because of the fact that we have negotiations", Minister Bolduc said.

It seemed that the Minister managed to stop short of actually saying that there would be sanctions.

While Mr. Bolduc did acknowledge did the negotiations are an ongoing process and he respected that idea that nurses have to work a lot, that too in conditions which are not very good, he insisted that patients should have to suffer because of the discussions and urged the nurses to duly perform their duties.