Nurses protested outside Maisonneuve-Rosemont hospital on Friday, saying the strain of their working conditions is too much to bear.
They are being forced to work overtime, with some complaining of mandatory 18-hour days.
It drove an entire shift to refuse to work one day this week.
The Minister of Health says he will look into the problem, but admits the strain of dealing with patients can put huge demands on the health care system.
"In the province of Quebec every year you have 70, 000 more people in the province, and people are older than before," said Yves Bolduc. "We have to try to catch up for that."
Bolduc says he will try to move more patients into long-term care beds, and build a new emergency department.
Yet opposition critic Bernard Drainville says he expects more from a person who came into the job as as expert on wait times and emergency medicine.
"I'm telling you there are no easy solutions, but there are solutions and we know them," said Drainville. "Why the heck aren't we putting them in place?"
