Human Resources committee  That's a great question; it's a great point. Again, the land of pilot projects is Canada. We had a pilot project in Saskatchewan, partly funded by the Government of Saskatchewan and the federal government, on exactly what you're saying. They looked at nurses coming from the Phili

Human Resources committee  Yes, it is. We used to have an average age of retirement of 58, and we did many predictions that we were going to have a humongous shortage because of that retirement age. But they are staying much longer. I met a chief nurse just last week—this is nurses week, by the way, in c

Human Resources committee  You've heard a lot about “bed blockers”, which is a sad term to define clients who should be in their home or in long-term care facilities. That is where that $5 million to $6 million is spent. Our acute care sector, our hospitals, are the most expensive facilities there are. We

Human Resources committee  I would say Ontario is. The province had an older worker initiative for health care workers. Now it has paused, but they allowed nurses to stay in the workforce after the retirement age. The best scenario was at the Ottawa Hospital, where after retirement age they would offer two

Human Resources committee  We are in the business 24/7. It's the shift work; it's the workload. Nurses have the highest level of back injuries, and sadly, even if you've learned all the proper techniques on how to lift and bend, if a patient is falling, you are going to pick up the patient and forget about

Human Resources committee  It's keeping them in the workplace as mentors. We don't do a great job in health care for any profession. I tell my members that they are not angels of mercy any more; they are health care professionals, and they have to be treated as health care professionals. That doesn't mean

Human Resources committee  I will mention this to Carole, in Moncton. She worked on this quite hard this morning.

Human Resources committee  I really believe we have to build bridges between the more senior nurses and our recent graduates. I say this everywhere I go, here or at the health committee, this is not strictly under provincial or territorial jurisdiction. In the case of this project, we have been working wit

Human Resources committee  Or an experienced nurse's salary working part-time. In his presentation, Dr. David Foot who is a demographer at the University of Toronto, was explaining to us that if people over the age of 55 worked part-time, the payroll savings would allow us to hire all of the recent graduat

Human Resources committee  For nurses alone, it would reduce some risks. As we know, workplace injuries increase with age.

Human Resources committee  It varies from province to province. In Quebec, the percentage of people in this age bracket working full-time, in other words 35 to 40 hours per week, is 55%. In Alberta, it is 35%, whereas in the Maritimes and Newfoundland, it is 70%.

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  We speak far longer in French.

Human Resources committee  In the entire sector.

Human Resources committee  Again, provinces believe human resources are better managed when there are fewer full-time positions. Alberta is the province that pays the most overtime. Rather than create full-time jobs, they create part-time jobs, but extra hours are paid double time.