New Brunswick turns to Quebec for nurses amid shortage
by The Canadian Parvasi
Amid the shortage of healthcare workers in the province, New Brunswick is inviting nurses from other provinces to join the healthcare force, using incentives like substantial signing bonuses and other benefits to attract potential healthcare workers.
A hiring event was organised in a Montreal hotel on Tuesday by Horizon Health, a health authority that works on behalf of New Brunswick. At the event, potential nurses in the area were offered up to $10,000 in signing bonuses, and up to $5,000 in relocation costs alongside a range of other incentives.
“We’re all in a candidate-driven market and trying to do the best that we can to recruit and retain the nurses that we have,” stated Kerry Kennedy, director of talent acquisition with Horizon Health Network, about the event, adding that the low cost of living in N.B. makes it ideal for certain nursing candidates.
Other incentives offered by Horizon Health Network at upcoming events, according to media reports, will include customized treatment for the first 120 applicants, including help in arranging a place to stay, as well as assistance in helping partners of candidates find jobs in the province.
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New Brunswick is not the first province to invite nurses from other provinces to join its workforce. Ontario has also previously offered incentives to healthcare workers looking to relocate to the province, with Premier Doug Ford enacting new rules to make it faster for nurses from other provinces to join the Ontario healthcare force.
Quebec, which has seen both New Brunswick and Ontario inviting nurses to relocate, is facing its own shortage of healthcare workers.
“It is in everyone’s interest to recruit personnel from abroad… We have some great examples here in Quebec of nurses from around the world who are making a difference. In the meantime, we continue to work to make our network an employer of choice and to improve working conditions,” stated Christian Dubé, Quebec’s health minister, in a statement about the shortage of nurses across Canada.
According to Media reports, Horizon Health Network is looking to hold similar events for inviting healthcare workers to N.B. in Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto.
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