The B.C. government is embarking on a glossy new marketing campaign to try and lure away American nurses to come work in our provincial hospitals.

It will undoubtedly feature majestic mountains, the grandeur of the Pacific Ocean and images of all sorts of outdoorsy hipsters doing outdoorsy, hipster-y things while draped head-to-toe in Arc'teryx.

What you won’t see, though, is the day-to-day reality of many nurses in this province — the rising tide of threats, abuse, crammed hospitals, overworked conditions, the revolving door of people in drug-induced distress, folks shouting obscenities, threats of violence, actual violence, stabbings, machete-wielding attackers and more.

There was no mention of any of that in the recruiting package outlined by Health Minister Josie Osborne and Premier David Eby on Monday. Their main pitch seemed to be: We don’t have Donald Trump, so you should come here.

“President Trump’s loss is British Columbia’s gain,” said Eby.

It was left to the BC Nurses’ Union to explain the disconnect of a government focused on recruiting people from abroad into jobs that have a more than 50 per cent attrition rate within five years back here at home.

“You cannot simply put all of the investment into recruitment strategies,” said Tristan Newby, BCNU vice-president. “If you're not creating a safe, sustainable environment, you're going to lose the people that you have. And that is what's........

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