Info Needed for Alberta

[nursemama2be]

Hi everyone,

Interestingly a recruiter called me today about job opportunities in Alberta. I had previously thought of Alberta before but never acted on it. I am a fresh new RPN grad working in Ontario.

The issue i have is that i know nothing about alberta compared to ontario. I know there is no PST and they are offering a package which sounds nice. I have no clue how the northern allowance works and don't know which areas (companies) to stay away from.

So I need info because I feel dumb. The two companies she talked about was Northern Lights Health and Calgary Health Region. Any pros and cons to moving to Alberta?

Info requested please

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Oh my goodness, what a complex question! First of all, you wouldn't get northern allowance in Calgary (which is urban and not north!), but you might in Northern Lights. I believe it's $1040 a month in Fort McMurray and less in other communities, plus there's a tax credit. The cost of living in Fort McMurray is much higher than anywhere else in the province due to its isolation and the distance building supplies and other goods must be transported over. But then again, Fort Mac isn't the only community in Northern Lights looking for nurses. This is a list of all health care facilities in Alberta with contact information: http://www.health.alberta.ca/regions/hospital_directory.pdf and this link will give you a map of the regions: http://www.health.alberta.ca/regions/HS_locate.html. Keep in mind that Alberta has amalgamated all health care services under the "new and improved" Alberta Health Services umbrella and the regions don't have any authority any more. (Complicated and not really important to this discussion!)

Pros of moving to Alberta? It's not Ontario!! :yeah:Just kidding. Partially! We have real mountains. We have The Mall. We have the University of Alberta/Stollery Hospital. We have oil. Actually, I've lived in both Ontario and Alberta, and when it came time to choose when hubby left the military, we came back to Alberta. (My ancestors also came here from Ontario and never went back!) We have more money now than we've ever had in our lives, and we have no debt other than our mortgage. There's an active cultural scene in both Edmonton and Calgary, there's world-famous skiing and tourist spots within a few hours' drive. Calgary is a young city with young residents; Edmonton is more of an immigrant/industrial city with the longest unbroken green river valley in the world. We have a flat income tax and no sales tax.

Cons of moving to Alberta? One party government for more than 40 years. Deregulated utilities. Less predictable weather. A health care system in flux. Transient population. Would we go back to Manitoba? Not in a million years.

I'm sure the recruiter can provide you with more information that's specific to your needs. Maybe you could negotiate a visit. It's worth a try!

[nursemama2be]

thanks for the info.. i have never been out of ontario and visited around canada... i have been to the usa and various states...

i am hoping to figure out something soon.. the package is nice but i don't know if its the right time..

personally i would like to find job opportunities for lpn positions in canada under nursing on some sites not nursing support... but thats a whole different ballgame...

[suzanne4, RN]

If you have never been out there, most definitely take a trip out there first and see it first. Especially if you have not been out of Ontario.

[nursemama2be]

I think that is what i am going to do... i used to live in the usa and i found out after 10yrs didn't like arizona... to be quite honest the pay isn't all that much more than what i make and lower than if i worked in a hospital in ontario... and i heard AB has a higher cost of living in areas she was talking about... i am gonna continue to research it and see...