Ontario speeding up health professional accreditation
Ontario’s health minister has ordered the colleges governing doctors and nurses in the province to develop plans to speed up the registration of foreign professionals in their fields.
Sylvia Jones is giving them two weeks to come up with proposals to register internationally-trained professionals so they can begin to practice in Ontario as quickly as possible.
She’s also told the Registered Nurses Association to develop supports to help bring foreign nurses up to Ontario standards.
The move is an attempt to reduce the impact of staff shortages, which have caused hospitals across the province to temporarily shut down some of their operations.
Singh says feds should support health care
Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh says the Trudeau government must act to address what he calls a “national crisis” that staffing shortages have caused in our health care system.
Singh says the federal government can’t simply wash its hands of the issue, saying health care is a provincial matter.
He says Ottawa must work with the provinces and territories to speed the process to have the credentials of internationally trained health-care workers recognized in Canada.
Ukraine grain shipments moving
Three more ships loaded with grain have left ports in Ukraine this morning, under a deal reached between Russia and Ukraine last week.
The three, loaded with corn, will be inspected by a joint team of Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish, and United Nations officials when they arrive in Turkish waters.
Ukraine, a major exporter of grain, has seen its ports blockaded since the Russian invasion began on February 24th.
Meantime, 225 Canadian soldiers will soon begin training Ukrainians to fight the Russian invaders.
They’ll be sent to Britain to join members of several other militaries in the program.
Hockey Canada Investigation
Hockey Canada says former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell will lead an investigation into the organization’s operations.
Officials say they hope to have interim recommendations by the time the organization’s annual meeting rolls around in November.
The investigation was promised after controversy over the way Hockey Canada had dealt with sexual assault allegations against players from the national junior hockey team in 2003 and 2018.