Cost of Licence in Canada (Alberta)

[Percyrn]

I am a Cdn nurse returning to work in Alberta after 9 years of travel nursing. Talk about culture shock... the cost and rigamarole of getting (renewing) my Alberta licence is crazy!! Is anyone else wondering how badly they really want us back! The cost of a 4 month licence in Alberta is equal to about 10 years in California.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

I can empathize. My first license in Alberta was only good for three weeks... September 9 to 30... about $75 a week. The cost has climbed rather steeply the last two years and will be rising again for 2008. When one asks CARNA why they need to charge us so much, they usually come up with bunk like "other health care professionals' fees are higher than ours" and "we're providing the public with protection" and "we've got to develop all these programs to ensure nurses are competent to practice" and "by the way, we do have a malpractice insurance plan for all members"... then buried in some fine print in the annual report you find out they're building a huge addition onto their office building for millions of dollars to house all the consultants they've had to hire to administer all those new programs. And now with energy costs and property values going through the roof, they'll need to gouge us some more for heating, gas for their fleet and the increased property taxes they'll be paying on their spanking new, shiny huge building. Sorry, that's about how it is.