Which is best province among the four?

Fiona59 · Apr 18, 2009

Remember the song lyrics "I can see for miles, and miles,...".

First thing that popped into my head from that picture.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 18, 2009

Remember the song lyrics "I can see for miles, and miles,...".

Yup, pretty much.

nursemich · Apr 19, 2009

so Regina seems to be a nice city. Urban than the others?

Teebee5 · Apr 19, 2009

LOL!

I am sorry but your "Remember the song lyrics "I can see for miles, and miles,..."." made me giggle!

Very cute.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 19, 2009

so Regina seems to be a nice city. Urban than the others?

Actually Saskatoon is the larger city by almost 100,000. If I had to choose, I'd pick Saskatoon. Royal University Hospital has more beds than Regina General and it handles more acute cases too. The only real PICU in the province is at RUH.

nursemich · Apr 19, 2009

Thank you janfrn. :nuke: I'm now completing the requirements for assessment in Saskatchewan. I've decided to do this on my own. Will I get a job online once I have assessed to be eligible to take the CRNE? Then apply for work permit and so on.. for a permanent visa? Or things are getting a tougher?

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 19, 2009

It's really hard to say what the job prospects are right now. I know that in Alberta, six months ago it would take at least 20 minutes to scroll through all the posted nursing vacancies on the Capital Health career board. Now it takes about 5. As of this moment there are only 18 postings that would be suitable for IENs (in terms of work permit requirements) at the University of Alberta and 7 at the Royal Alexandra. Things in Saskatchewan may still be more favourable for IENS but I can't say for sure. The Saskatoon Health Region Career website isn't very user friendly.

Today there's an article in the newspaper about the job losses being suffered by semi-skilled temporary foreign workers all across Alberta. The economic recession has left about 200,000 without employment and under the terms of their work permits, even though they've been petitioned for PNP, they are unable to work for anyone else without revising their TWP and the're looking at returning home. Of course, nursing isn't in the same category, but if a Canadian nurse's partner is laid off and s/he's working casual or in a small part-time position, s/he's going to be applying for the very same postings that the IEN will be. There's no question who will get the position in that situation. I believe that is how the vacancies in Alberta have dried up; Saskatchewan's economy is based on the same industries as Alberta's so even if the recession hasn't caused them to lose jobs yet, the day could well be coming.

This cloumn appeared this morning in my local paper, rather coincidentally. It might give you a little chuckle:

http://www.edmontonsun.com/News/Columnists/Romanowska_Patrycja/2009/04/19/9163056-sun.html

5cats · Apr 19, 2009

Applying for Saskatoon Health Region is tricky as well:)

They are only interested if you're eligible to take CRNE, same goes for other health regions.

So wait until you're assessed by SRNA and then see where you want to work and live.

5cats

nursemich · Apr 20, 2009

ohhhhh that didn't sound good. Thank you for being honest. My application package for Ontario just arrived and now I'm having a hard time deciding where to apply.. But I'm leaning more in Saskatchewan even though Ontario is much greater place than Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan welcomes IEN than Ontario I presume. :uhoh21:

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 20, 2009

Just remember that the column was meant to be humorous.

There have been nursing lay offs in Ontario. And there are many people who wouldn't agree that Ontario is a great place... like me!

nursemich · Apr 21, 2009

oH can you share some of the reasons why?

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Apr 21, 2009

There's an attitude of superiority in a lot of people from Ontario that really doesn't sit well with me. Torontonians believe they ARE Canada, that the rest of us are just here to look up to them. Some of them get quite snarky when we don't. Take a look at the National Post to see just how Ontario-centric our "national" newspaper is. It's a lens on how what happens day to day affects urban Ontario. (There are huge areas of the province that are just as insignificant to the urban elite as the Rest of Canada.) Oh, and let's bail out their major industries to the tune of many billions of (western) tax dollars so that we can keep them in business.

The cost of living in Ontario is quite high when compared to other provinces. The air quality is much poorer due to the concentration of heavy industry there. Urban sprawl is not something I approve of, and when it takes the better part of a day to drive through Toronto on the 401 because of traffic, well, not interested!

I lived in Ottawa for two years and couldn't wait to leave. The cost of living was way too steep for our young family and I had a terrible time finding work (wasn't a nurse then). I ended up staying at home with my baby and feeling cut off from the world. People were not friendly and I wasn't used to being so isolated. We left there nearly 30 years ago and haven't been back to Ontario except to visit since.

It may seem odd that someone whose ancestors were pioneers in Ontario would feel this way. (I have forebears from there who arrived from Scotland and Ireland in the very early 1800's, more during the Irish Famine of 1846-1852 and then others from Poland in the 1870's.) But I've lived allover Canada and have seen how ignored the other provinces are when it comes to just about everything.The only province that gets more attention than Ontario is Quebec, and we're just NOT going to open that can of worms. I still have many relatives in Ontario and they're welcome to it! But of course this is my personal point of view.