Finance committee  The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions has participated in protesting those cuts. We've written to the minister about that. We will see the impact of these cuts in emergency rooms. It is a downloading to the provinces.

Finance committee  I don't have the statistics here, but there have been studies in regard to preventative illness and injury and savings that could have occurred if the illnesses had been treated in the primary health care system instead of the acute care system. I would be happy to provide those.

Finance committee  Sometimes rural and remote aspects are important. It will be interesting to see what the uptake on that program is to see if it is a successful measure. Again, we would welcome further grant forgiveness for other nurses.

Finance committee  The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is supportive of the National Expert Commission report, which includes the top five and five, and that would be approached. The CFNU is also interested in seeing a national conversation among the federal government, the provinces, and the

Finance committee  We welcomed that initiative and would like to see it expanded for other nurses and health care providers—not just for those working in rural and remote areas, but for those in other areas upgrading their nursing degree to become nurse practitioners, for example. I'm curious about

Finance committee  Absolutely, and I would see expanding the grants program, for example, to support RNs returning to school.

Finance committee  Thank you. I am Pamela Foster and I am a policy adviser with the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. I apologize on behalf of Linda Silas, our president, who was hoping to be here tonight but wasn't able to come. I'd like to thank the standing committee for the opportunity