I read your article about the nursing shortage through gritted teeth, gritted with frustration at the system itself. From my perspective, the issue is far more critical than just nursing working conditions. The number of people allowed to be nurses in Manitoba is controlled by the post-secondary institutions in Manitoba. The government of Manitoba has decided that each post-secondary institution could have one nursing program and then decided which institution got which program; Red River -- diploma RN, U of M and Brandon U -- BN, Assiniboine College -- LPN.

If our "poet president" of the University of Manitoba is to see "a thousand flowers bloom" (the size of the faculty), then someone is going to have to attend to their watering. It is nice to have $100 million spent on renovations, and $150 million on a sports stadium, but where is the investment in innovation -- that expected third arm of teaching, community service and research -- that makes universities the driving engine of our economy and culture?

Isn't that why the Health Act was created? Now on the other hand, I want to ask this question: Should taxpayers cover the cost of unions, especially Air Canada's flight attendants' union? The obvious answer is a resounding no! I don't pay taxes to support unions. But now that I think about it, isn't this the Doer NDP-isms? Unions before business? We all know where Doer came from.