Canada has a nurse shortage just like the US. But ours is probably far worse given the relatively closed immigration policies we have for nurses and the country's lack of foresight in opening more nursing programs and training more nursing instructors. The fact that the Canadian Nursing Association has issued a report recognizing the importance of foreign nurses in the Canadian health care system is certainly noteworthy given that a union would have a natural inclination to want to keep the supply of workers in their field in tight supply. How's this for enlightened:

Immigration is one recognized strategy to ensure sufficient numbers of knowledge workers in the health sciences. Many health professions in Canada, including nursing, are reporting shortages in personnel. A 30 per cent shortage of registered nurses is projected for the next decade. Steps have been taken to alleviate this shortage, including increasing the number of admissions at Canadian nursing schools and improving working conditions to retain more nurses. Nonetheless, CNA believes that effectively addressing the nursing shortage requires a national, integrated health human resource strategy that includes the recognition of immigration as one tactic.

The conventional wisdom in the US is that the American Nursing Association has been blocking nursing immigration legislation in this country. But I believe that this is a myth based on past positions taken by the ANA (which, by the way, is a professional association and no longer a union). I think the ANA would be willing to accept more nurses from abroad with certain concessions - a tax to fund domestic nurse education programs, guarantees that nurses that receive funding from their countries pay back such loans or get their country to otherwise sign of before emigrating (to address brain drain concerns), etc. Look for legislation addressing nurses in the coming months.