The New Brunswick Nurses Union has said the province is facing a severe shortage of nurses.
For that reason, the People’s Alliance of New Brunswick (PANB) believes language restrictions for nurses should be eased.
PANB leader Kris Austin believes the language commissioner’s office is painting a utopia about bilingualism but that’s not the reality.
Austin understands how bilingualism is important in certain areas of the province with a balanced demographic of English and French.
But he says restrictions should be eased for nurses in areas which are mainly Francophone or mainly Anglophone.
Austin says the most important thing right now is getting more nurses.
He adds we can worry about language requirements later.
