Paltry measures won’t make up the 9,300 nurse shortfall

EDMONTON – The UCP’s attempts to make up for nursing staff shortages may fall well short of what Alberta needs, according to research released by the Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL). The province is on track to need 9,282 more nurses and nursing supervisors in just seven years.

“Paltry funding re-announcements and attempts to poach nurses from other parts of Canada is likely doomed to fail.” said AFL president Gil McGowan. “The UCP has a track record of disrespecting nurses and Albertans are going to pay the price.”

The government’s own job market forecasts reveals the looming shortfall of nurses and nursing supervisors. UCP Health Minister Jason Copping’s announcement last week will do little to ease the growing crises.

Much of the UCP’s plan rests on the hope that they can lure nurses from other provinces and counties. However, most of these jurisdictions have their own recruitment plan to deal with their own nursing shortfalls. For example, New Brunswick is actively seeking Quebec-trained nurses, while Quebec is imploring retired nurses to return to the workforce.

“Jason Kenney dared nurses to leave Alberta in 2021 and Danielle Smith claimed the nursing shortage was ‘manufactured’” said McGowan. “This mess is of their own making. They’ve proved they don’t have what it takes to fix it.”

The AFL’s full research can be found here.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
John Ashton
Director of Communications, AFL
(780) 483-3021
jashton@afl.org