The province's health minister is guaranteeing a job for every nurse who graduates in Ontario in 2007, although they may have to move to a small town for work.

George Smitherman made that announcement Monday, along with the creation of a $1-million program that will help pay tuition fees for nurses interested in practicing in remote and under-serviced communities.

George Smitherman (file photo)

No dollar figure was attached to the hiring program. About 4,000 nursing students will graduate in 2007.

"If we're determined to be an employer of choice, which we are, then we've got to do a better job of making sure opportunities are available to nurses, no matter their circumstances," said Smitherman.

However, he acknowledged he may not be able to offer graduates their first choice for employment if they're looking to stay in the big cities and more populated suburbs.

Mary Ferguson-Paré, president of the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, said the job guarantee would likely keep more nurses from leaving Canada to find work in the U.S.

"We're spending a lot of money educating nurses. You might know that the United States loves our nurses because they're well prepared," said Ferguson-Paré. "They want to stay here with us. We're not creating a way in which they can do that."

Many new nurses are offered three- to six-month contract jobs by hospitals and other health organizations upon graduation, but they often can't afford to hire them on full-time after that.

Ontario has mounted other programs to deal with a chronic nursing shortage in small-town Ontario.

Earlier this year, it announced an $11-million program that pays registered nurses to upgrade their skills to become nurse practitioners. The caveat is the nurses must make a two-year commitment to the small community that sponsors them.