NDP Block Filipino Nurses from Working in Manitoba
PCs call for immediate reinstatement of recruitment funding: Cook
WINNIPEG — The Official Opposition is calling for the immediate reinstatement of the Philippines healthcare recruitment program after it was revealed that the NDP government prevented more than a dozen incoming nurses from joining the Manitoba workforce this year, Kathleen Cook, PC Critic for Health, announced today.
“In the middle of a global healthcare staffing crisis, the NDP are blocking nurses and other healthcare workers from coming to our province,” said Cook. “We need every healthcare worker we can get, especially when the NDP have no plan of their own to recruit, train, and retain healthcare workers in Manitoba. They’re actively shutting the door on newcomers.”
Cook tabled documents in the Legislature today revealing that the NDP suddenly withdrew job offers from a group of internationally-educated nurses far along into the application process for the healthcare recruitment program. By the time of the withdrawal, the nurses had already undergone rigorous requirements, including medical examination, police clearance, providing personal documentation, and required certifications. No options to continue the program were offered, despite nurses expressing their willingness to come to Manitoba as healthcare aides if the nursing pathway was no longer an option.
This follows Wab Kinew’s decision in December to cut $5.8 million in funding for the Philippines healthcare recruitment program, and the NDP’s fabricated claims that no recruits had come to Manitoba as result of the program.
“The NDP is putting politics before patients,” said Cook. “We need every new nurse or healthcare aide we can get. The NDP has no excuse not to immediately reinstate this recruitment fund, and welcome newcomers who are dreaming of working in our healthcare system.”
This news comes after Manitobans recently learned that the NDP government is also keeping secret the fate of hundreds of skilled workers who are already in the province but cannot work due to the severe NDP-driven backlog of work permits.
For information on the successful healthcare recruitment initiative, visit: https://pcmbcaucus.com/2024/02/pcs-welcome-international-nurses-to-portage/
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For media inquiries, please contact PCCaucus_Media@leg.gov.mb.ca