Finance committee  Good morning, everyone. I'm Pauline Worsfold, the secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, CFNU. I also happen to be a working nurse. I work in the recovery room at the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. With me today is Pam Foster, our governme

Finance committee  Great.

Finance committee  Thank you. As I said, I'm a nurse and I'm flexible. My name is Pauline Worsfold, and I'm the secretary-treasurer of the CFNU, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. As I said before, I'm a recovery room nurse from the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. With me today

Finance committee  It would be a multi-year plan. We currently have $4.2 million, so we'd need an amount greater than that.

Finance committee  Good afternoon. I'm Pauline Worsfold, the secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, and with me today is our health researcher, Amanda Crupi. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions represents 138,000 nurses in all provinces, sans Quebec so far, as well

Finance committee  We, along with many other stakeholders, urge the government to adopt an even more active leadership role--

Finance committee  --beginning with building programs into our federal budget that support the sustainability of our health care system. Thank you, and we welcome questions and comments.

Finance committee  --CFNU and the Canadian Nurses Association met with the provincial health ministers in St. John's to discuss this very issue.

Finance committee  The only thing we've done is bring it to the attention of people in the positions of power. We've been saying that we're very concerned about this as well. We see our patients, residents, and clients paying out of pocket for drugs that, as you say, don't give any additional benef

Finance committee  Well, the medications and physicians are the two most costly contributors to the health care system.

Finance committee  The paper I referred to actually says we could save $10.7 billion--save it. It's not going to cost us that much money. You're right, we're not asking for more money for nurses, even though we need more nurses. I think with the cost savings with a pharmacare program we could loo

Finance committee  Isn't that supposed to be my question?

Finance committee  I think because it's a multi-jurisdictional issue. That is the biggest challenge, because the federal, the provinces, and the territories all have to agree. I would say that is one of the largest barriers at this point in time. I think with bulk purchasing, doing things.... In Al

Finance committee  I'm not intimately familiar with the pharmacare program in Quebec. We do hear from our members across Canada. You're right, the nurses in each of the provinces, through their provincial unions, speak to the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. I also said at the beginning that w

Finance committee  Good afternoon. I am the secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions, and I'm a working nurse. I work in the recovery room of the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton, so hello to my fellow Albertans. CFNU represents over 156,000 nurses and student nur