Best province...

SN2bExpAt · Nov 20, 2007

Shalom!

Best wages are in Alberta, period. They pay double for overtime, start higher than BC and Ontario, and have the lowest income tax structure of any province. Also, you only pay one tax there. It is so good that Ontario keeps losing their new graduates to the west.

Working conditions are debatable in every province. You'll have good and bad places. However, Ontario nurses are highly stressed and overworked and understaffed. This was so much so that my friend's mother wound up coming home to Manitoba for cancer palliative care because of the waitlisting d/t lack of open beds. No nurses = no beds.

I went to a recruiting fair about a month ago. Provinces like BC and Alberta were offering relocation cost bonuses from $3000 to $5000. Not once did I hear of these offered from Ontario based hospitals.

If I stay in Canada, I will definitely head to Calgary. I was thinking of Toronto b/c that is where a lot of my friends are, but man the money is too good and friends don't pay the bills (or loans, dammit).

Fiona59 · Nov 21, 2007

The money here is good but working conditions can suck. Patient acuity is constantly increasing. Staff shortages are constant.

Cost of living is rising constantly. Alberta is a very expensive province to live in. There might be zero pst but our utilities are high, housing prices are high, there are user fees on servies that cost nothing in other provinces.

The grass is always greener elsewhere, here it's only green five months of the year.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Nov 21, 2007

The grass is always greener elsewhere, here it's only green five months of the year.

She's SO right! It's white at this moment in time...

But seriously, Fiona makes some good points:

1- Workload issues will only get worse. The Full Capacity Protocol is even finding its way into the ICUs. One of the units at the University which has and is staffed for 16 beds was housing 19 patients yesterday. In order to achieve that, there were two patients in each of 4 single rooms.

2- Our utilities were deregulated a half dozen or so years ago, but into a market where there is no competition so rates are whatever the monolpy wants them to be. I'm paying more than twice as much for electricity as I paid in Manitoba for a larger house with two more people in it. The price of housing has more than doubled in the last couple of years and rents are rising at as much as 100% every 6 months. We pay more for gasoline that they do in Toronto, even though it's refined in our backyards.

3- The number of homeless in our cities and towns has skyrocketed along with rents and housing prices, and in this climate, you know that's a disaster on several levels. From a public health point of view, it's a pandemic.

So don't just look at rates of pay when you decide where to live and work. There's more to life than a big paycheque.

lalaxton · Nov 21, 2007

Don't forget that with the phenomenal growth in the larger cities in Alberta, wait times can be just as bad or worse than in Ontario. My nephew in Edmonton had to wait 3 months for an Endoscopy, despite recent unexplained weight loss of 30 lbs!

Yes the grass is always greener, choose what you are willing to put up with the least, there's problems wherever you go!

jfk090805 · Nov 23, 2007

How about Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan? Can anyone put an insights on these provinces? Im planning to apply an assessment on these provinces. Thank you

globalRN · Nov 24, 2007

alberta does have more expensive utilities, higher property taxes compared to bc . food is more

expensive and not as fresh since it is trucked in.

i have lived here for several years and the only alberta advantage: housing is cheaper than most other major canadian cities but it is increasing rapidly.

alberta has the most progressive np legislation so we have the most progressive scope of practice.

pay is the best for nps in canada. can't believe nps salaries in bc are 70-85,000/yr

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Nov 24, 2007

Nova Scotia is paying moving costs up to $5000 with receipts. Chronic unemployment because the fisheries are not up to full speed. Last year the ER's in Cape Breton did rotating closures because of a lack of nursing staff.

wasup · Nov 24, 2007

can't believe nps salaries in bc are 70-85,000/yr

Where did these numbers come from?

BagwisRN · Nov 24, 2007

Hey Guys! Capital Health Systems went here in the Philippines just this November and hired hundreds of Nurses. They say they are responsible for major hospitals in Edmonton, Alberta such as Univ of Alberta, Royal Alexander( is it?), and a new one they were putting up--Cardio hospital by the name of Wasankowski (or somthin'). They hired me for as an RN at Cardio ICU in Univ of Alberta while the new one is still in progress.

Can somebody tell me how is it workong there...coming from a tropical island like the Philippines? I've had my eyes set at California, USA for as long as I remember but it's taking me years to get there. And years more from today as I heard. How is USA diffrent? I know crime rate would be a reason to live in Alberta rather than Cali. Ive got two young girls of my own and family safety is what's most impt.

Capital Health has offered me 2 years working oppurtunity as a Cardio ICU Nurse but I am suppose to go there as a NURSe Auxillary untill I take CARNA within the next 5mos. The pay is almost half the amt I should receive as an RN. Is that the right process goin to Canada? Nurse Aux for the first months then take CARNA before being an RN? Is there a way to be an RN immediately when I get there like it is with USA and their NCLEX? I dn't know much abt the process there and I'm afraid that I will be a nurse aid for the rest of my contract and I cant go back.

Is it the right process...or does something smell fishy? Need help please?

The thing is...

BagwisRN · Nov 24, 2007

Hey Guys! Capital Health Systems went here in the Philippines just this November and hired hundreds of Nurses. They say they are responsible for major hospitals in Edmonton, Alberta such as Univ of Alberta, Royal Alexander( is it?), and a new one they were putting up--Cardio hospital by the name of Wasankowski (or somthin'). They hired me for as an RN at Cardio ICU in Univ of Alberta while the new one is still in progress.Can somebody tell me how is it workong there...coming from a tropical island like the Philippines? I've had my eyes set at California, USA for as long as I remember but it's taking me years to get there. And years more from today as I heard. How is USA diffrent? I know crime rate would be a reason to live in Alberta rather than Cali. Ive got two young girls of my own and family safety is what's most impt.Capital Health has offered me 2 years working oppurtunity as a Cardio ICU Nurse but I am suppose to go there as a NURSe Auxillary untill I take CARNA within the next 5mos. The pay is almost half the amt I should receive as an RN. Is that the right process goin to Canada? Nurse Aux for the first months then take CARNA before being an RN? Is there a way to be an RN immediately when I get there like it is with USA and their NCLEX? I dn't know much abt the process there and I'm afraid that I will be a nurse aid for the rest of my contract and I cant go back.Is it the right process...or does something smell fishy? Need help please?

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Nov 24, 2007

You will need RN pay to live in Alberta in a decent area. You should count on about $500 outlay per person for winter outdoor clothes, which I assume you don't have. Also when you arrive who is paying your first and last month's rent so you have a place to stay? Do they assist you with any cultural adjustments (I'm not familiar with the Phillippines).

What happens if you don't pass the test?

If you leave now you will arrive at the beginning of the winter season...and the middle of a school year. Do your children speak English?

If you could time your arrival for May or June life would be easier for you.