The provincial government is sending a recruitment team to Saskatchewan in a tit-for-tat battle over health care resources.
Health Minister Tom Osborne says Saskatchewan is actively recruiting in Newfoundland and Labrador as we speak, leading him to serve notice to the prairie province that the gloves are off and NL will be doing the same.
“We are heading to Saskatchewan in a recruitment mission,” says Osborne, “in response to the fact that they’re coming here.”
Osborne says Newfoundland and Labrador has been actively recruiting in other countries and has also been involved in trying to attract Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in other provinces to come ‘home,’ but he suggests that active, on the ground, cross provincial recruitment crosses a line, and “cannot go unchecked.”
The province’s recruitment team will be heading to Saskatchewan next Tuesday.
Osborne will speak with media at confederation Building this afternoon at 2:30 to discuss the trip.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Saskatchewan’s health minister declined a request for an interview, but did provide VOCM News with a statement.
It did not address Osborne’s comments, instead noting that province has embarked on a national recruitment tour with stops in this province, but also Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and P.E.I.
They say the plan is to highlight in-demand health care positions to meet current and future needs, as well as showcase the province as a place to live.
