The shortage of nurses in Manitoba has crept back upwards in the last two years after it dipped to a low of just six per cent in 2004. The latest information provided by Manitoba Health shows in 2006 there were 1,022 vacant nursing jobs across the province, including both permanent and term positions.

That number is up from 802 two years earlier.

 Health Minister Theresa Oswald said part of the increase is due to new positions being added to the system.

“We’ve created hundreds more positions,” she said. Tory MLA Myrna Driedger said the government has bragged for years that it would improve the nursing shortage but said obviously it has failed to do that. Read more…