Alberta is losing its young nurses almost as quickly as it trains them, according to a new report from the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI).For every 100 nurses under 35 who registered to practice in Alberta last year, 42 others left the profession. Nationally, that figure sits at 40, revealing a growing retention crisis that is worsening Canada’s health care shortages.“Nursing job vacancies have tripled in just five years, from 13,178 in 2018 to 41,716 in 2023,” said Emmanuelle B. Faubert, economist at the MEI and author of the report. “This growing exodus is worsening the shortage of health care workers and putting even more pressure on our already strained system.”Faubert said Alberta’s stable turnover rate — virtually unchanged since 2014 — shows that simply training more nurses won’t fix the issue. .“Without better working conditions and flexibility, it’s like filling a leaky bucket,” she said.British Columbia, by contrast, has managed to cut its young nurse turnover by 50% since 2014, keeping nearly 93% of newly trained nurses in the province. The BC College of Nurses and Midwives has streamlined the accreditation process for internationally educated nurses by introducing a “triple-track” application that allows candidates to apply for three designations at once.“Flexibility is key,” Faubert said. “Nurses are the backbone of our health care system, and we need to ensure the system works for them, not against them.”.A 2025 survey by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions found that more than one third of nurses had worked involuntary overtime in the past six months, six in ten experienced violence or abuse at work in the past year, and one in four showed clinical signs of anxiety, depression, or burnout.The MEI report suggests other provinces follow British Columbia’s lead by adopting shift-swapping pools that let nurses trade shifts without administrative approval. It also recommends giving nurses more freedom to work for private clinics, travel nurse agencies, or telehealth companies to help them balance work and life.“Burning through our young nurses today means having no nurses for tomorrow,” Faubert warned. “Protecting our healthcare system requires letting go of the government monopoly in order to offer nurses the working conditions they deserve.”
