Finance committee  Bonjour. My name is Linda Silas. I am a nurse by profession, a proud New Brunswicker, and president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Union. We represent over 135,000 nurses, in every province except Quebec. Our members work in hospitals, long-term care facilities, communiti

Finance committee  I agree with respect to the tax cuts. I think the public health system has proven itself. It went into difficulties in the 1990s, and we've had Romanow, and we've had Michael Dechter, who were all agents of the cutbacks. I haven't heard Frank McKenna—and I was there in the 1990s—

Finance committee  The previous government made the first step, we believe, and you have the expert here. But as nurses we're still at 93% women in this country, and 75% of our members are mothers. I have a 17-year-old and used to pay $35 a day for child care in New Brunswick. It is $70 a day in Ot

Finance committee  Sir, you have to understand that Quebec is ahead of the game, so to speak, when it comes to community care and day care services, as Monica mentioned. It's also much easier to convince 308 MPs by stressing values and standards over financial percentages. Never in their wildest dr

Finance committee  We have to realize that the previous budget dealt with the 10-year health care plan, which we saw was $41 billion. I was there downtown looking at the hard negotiation between the premiers and the Prime Minister until 1 a.m. It was really hard and rewarding for health care advoca

Finance committee  Sir, I'm by no means an expert on taxation or tax fairness, but there is one reality that must be acknowledged. When I left New Brunswick, I had to decide whether to move to Quebec or to Ontario. My son was 15 years old. I chose Ontario because of the substantially lower taxes.

Finance committee  It's a very good question. Thank you. We have to realize that in the early 1990s, 12,000 nurses were graduating every year. We went down to 4,000 across the country by 1999, and we're now up to 8,000. I don't have the numbers for doctors offhand, but the numbers are very similar

Human Resources committee  Thank you. I'm a nurse and president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. We represent nine nurses unions across the country, except Quebec. We have 135,000 nurses. As I always joke, we represent the working nurses of this country. I'd like to thank you for this opport

Human Resources committee  You're very well informed, Mr. Lessard. To answer your question as to how the federal government could ensure a stable workforce in the field of health care and in the nursing profession, our solution would be to support employers. It's not about discussing federal or provincial

Human Resources committee  The answer is simple: it is yes and no. The change is not so easily made, and nurses are also clled on to perform other tasks that rightly belong to other health care professions. We really must consider solutions. That is why we asked Mr. Allison to make a presentation before th

Human Resources committee  On that issue, I'm not a very popular labour leader, because I ask my membership if they would still want a part-time job if the overtime wasn't there. We spend 18 million hours in overtime--that's 10,000 full-time jobs. One in five nurses works at more than one job, so they have

Human Resources committee  I would just add that I think the solution is quite simple. It's like any employer. You need to create a stable workforce, a stable environment for employment, and we have to have a balanced approach. We're talking to our nurses and other health care workers. You need to start t

Human Resources committee  You're going to be a grandpa too.

Human Resources committee  In health care, there are very few for immigrants per se, but there is a program for aboriginals, the aboriginal workforce participation initiative out of HRSDC, and we need to look at that and expand it. That's another way of giving local employers just that little boost of fund

Health committee  Bonjour. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions represents 138,000 nurses in nine provinces, plus 20,000 associate members who are part of the Canadian Nursing Students’ Association. Our members work in hospitals, in long-term care facilities, in communities, and in our homes