PCs Welcome Internationally-Educated Nurses to Portage la Prairie
PC recruitment efforts yielded positive results for Manitoba but NDP cuts put progress at risk: Bereza
PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — Jeff Bereza, MLA for Portage la Prairie, and Kathleen Cook, PC Shadow Minister for Health, met and welcomed several new internationally-educated nurses who moved to Manitoba this week as a result of the previous PC government’s recruitment mission to the Philippines.
“These nurses came to Manitoba, brought their families, and are directly contributing to the staffing we need in our hospitals,” said Bereza. “The NDP government has since been dismissive of the success of this program. I’d encourage the premier to visit Portage and see the positive impact it has on our community and to our healthcare system.”
After cutting surgery options to pay for their $3 billion in election promises, the NDP cut $5.8 million set aside in the budget to help settle healthcare workers from the Philippines to Manitoba, and hinted at possibly abandoning the recruitment effort altogether. Despite their election promises, the NDP have made these cuts without delivering a comprehensive health recruitment strategy of their own.
Despite Wab Kinew’s attempts to deny the success of the initiative, many new healthcare providers have settled into their new communities over the last four months in the Interlake-Eastern, Northern, Prairie Mountain, Southern, and Winnipeg health regions.
“I’m so excited to be in Canada, and in a great community like Portage la Prairie,” said Ariston Dela Cruz, a nurse who came to Manitoba through the recruitment mission. “I’d like to thank the previous PC government for giving me and my family this opportunity. I have tried to come to Canada multiple times before. If it weren’t for this program, I would never have been able to get here and help patients.”
In addition to Portage la Prairie, the initiative is bringing workers to healthcare facilities and care homes in northern, urban, and rural communities across Manitoba, including Ashern, Beausejour, Brandon, Dauphin, Hamiota, Hartney, Minnedosa, Neepawa, Russell, Ste. Rose, Swan River, Virden, Thompson, and Winnipeg.
“This PC initiative is a tangible step in building healthcare capacity and enabling more patient care closer to home for all Manitobans,” said Cook. “Our PC team would like to say ‘Mabuhay!’ to all the nurses who are making Manitoba their home as a result of this mission, as well as thank you or ‘salamat’ to Manitoba’s dynamic Filipino community for sharing this exciting career opportunity with friends and family living in the Philippines.”
Manitobans continue to wait for a staffing plan from the NDP government, who ran their election campaign almost exclusively on healthcare.
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