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Winnipeg Free Press
07-08-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Unions, advocacy groups decry health-care ‘blame game
Organizations representing health-care workers and Manitoba patients say they're fed up with the NDP government 'playing the blame game' nearly two years into its mandate. In just the past week, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara's comments in Free Press stories included accusations that the previous Progressive Conservative government 'hid behind numbers they just made up' in an article about hiring new nurses and 'refused to sit down with (nurses)' on health-care concerns. Manitoba Health Coalition director Noah Schulz said he's grown weary of watching the blame for the province's struggling health-care system being punted back and forth, and wonders how much longer the NDP can claim to be 'picking up the pieces' of a previous government. 'There have been some important investments in health care, but it's just the tip, really, of that iceberg. It's unfortunate that, instead of taking that responsibility… a lot of that focus is on how bad the situation they inherited was, or how badly the PCs bungled things,' said the head of the non-profit group focused on protecting and expanding universal health care. 'We're not expecting everything to be turned around overnight, but it's not overnight, it's (nearly) two years now, and health care needs to be something that all governments prioritize, not a way that they score political points off each other.' Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals president Jason Linklater agreed, suggesting partisan politics needed to take a back seat. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Jason Linklater, Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS FILES Jason Linklater, Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals 'At many levels of the health-care system, including among some of the key players and decision-makers, the culture hasn't changed. It needs to,' he said in an email. 'If Manitobans don't get lower wait times and better access to care, they're not going to blame the party out of power. Manitobans can see through the political blame game. They want action from the people they elected.' At the Manitoba Nurses Union, president Darlene Jackson said that a new government promising to prioritize health care with a minister who previously worked as a nurse, had given union members a feeling of optimism that has waned in the time since, in part because of comments from the party in power. 'I can honestly say that I am, and I think nurses are, tired of the blame game of this government continuously blaming a previous government,' she said. 'We're almost two years into their mandate, the election promise was to ensure that they fixed health care — it was all about health care — and we are still waiting.' Opposition leader Obby Khan said the blame was being unfairly placed on a party with a new leader, with a 'new energy' and a 'new message.' 'You want to talk about a football being thrown back and forth? Well, the football is in (the NDP's) hands now, and they're fumbling it embarrassingly,' he said. 'And they're letting down Manitobans and health-care workers.' With a provincial byelection in Spruce Woods Aug. 26, Khan said the focus for the PC party is making that clear to voters. 'They solely campaigned on fixing health care, and two years in, health care is worse,' he said. (newletterPrompt) Asagwara, a former psychiatric nurse, said the reason for repeated references to the previous government is clear when discussing the current health-care crisis. 'I can certainly appreciate folks don't necessarily like to remember the damaging and the dark days of the PCs… my hope is that in being honest about how we got here, and in committing to not taking the same callous approach as the previous government, we will not only again repair the damage they did, but really make health care stronger for the long term,' Asagwara said. It is not the first time in Manitoba that health care has been kicked around as a political football. Depoliticizing health care is impossible, a spokesperson from physicians' advocacy organization Doctors Manitoba suggested. 'Any publicly funded service can never be separated from politics because politicians make funding and policy decisions, and because health care is the most personal and intimate service the government oversees, it is very dependent on political decisions and priorities,' the spokesperson said in an email. 'What matters most to physicians is that all political parties seek advice from doctors and other experts working in the system, invite feedback from the patients and citizens who use the system, and use evidence to guide their decisions.' University of Manitoba political studies adjunct professor Christopher Adams suggested that the back-and-forth is a natural response to how widespread and all-encompassing health-care failings have become in Manitoba and across Canada. 'I would say it's just natural for it to be a political football, and if the opposition isn't running with this, then they aren't doing their job,' he said. Malak AbasReporter Malak Abas is a city reporter at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg's North End, she led the campus paper at the University of Manitoba before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Malak. Every piece of reporting Malak produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Winnipeg Free Press
14-06-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Northern MRI unit to benefit all patients, minister promises
The mobile MRI unit for the north, which recently launched in Thompson, will improve access to diagnostic imaging for patients both in the north and down south, the health minister said. 'It's the first time the north has ever had MRI diagnostic capacity, and the MRI being mobile means that more communities are going to be served, which is fantastic,' Uzoma Asagwara said Friday. The northern magnetic resonance imaging machine, which is parked at Thompson hospital, will be able to travel back and forth to The Pas by late fall. MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS FILES Uzoma Asagwara said the northern MRI will help patients waiting in the south. 'This is really life-changing for (northern) folks,' Asagwara said. 'Previously, they would have been sent a flight away from home, a day's worth of travel away from home. It'll be able to serve patients on a wide spectrum of needs.' The mobile MRI has completed 63 exams since June 6. It's on track to do 46 per day, from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., Shared Health said. It has the equivalent of two full-time technicians and 1.4 full-time equivalent nursing assistants. It is short two full-time MRI techs, a 0.5 nursing position and one clerical position. Filling them isn't expected to be a challenge, a Shared Health spokesman said. 'All vacant positions are posted and recruitment is underway. An international MRI technician has been selected and is working through the hiring process' to fill one of the vacant positions, he said. All Northern Health requisitions for an MRI are sent to the mobile MRI, aside from those for fly-in communities. When asked how patients are prioritized, he said all requisitions go through Northern Health to the mobile MRI unit, and it serves all patients including inpatients and emergency patients. He said 28 patients are booked for an MRI scan, and 662 patients are waiting to be booked. The oldest requisition is from Jan. 16, 2025. The union that represents MRI technologists worries about a lack of MRI technologists in Manitoba and across Canada, and 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' to staff them while wait times grow in Winnipeg. 'Northern Manitobans absolutely deserve access close to home for MRI testing,' said Jason Linklater, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals. 'While they are launching this new MRI, wait times at other sites are around 26 weeks provincewide — 47 weeks at St. Boniface, 44 weeks at the Grace, and the benchmark for elective MRI is 8.5 weeks,' he said Friday. 'We're way outside of that and totally unacceptable for wait times and primarily due to a lack of MRI technologists,' Linklater said. 'I am concerned about the drop in staffing on other sites and that it's going to increase wait times by robbing Peter to pay Paul.' Asagwara said the northern MRI will help patients waiting in the south. 'This is going to take a tremendous amount of pressure off of those wait times in Winnipeg by allowing folks to get MRIs in their own communities closer to home in the north,' the minister said. Fewer flights and lengthy road trips down south, mean fewer missed appointments and greater capacity, Asagwara said. Advocates for an MRI machine in the hospital that's being built in Portage la Prairie aren't giving up. 'We're still actively gaining signatures on petitions,' said Jeff Bereza, the Tory MLA for Portage. The Portage Hospital Foundation has offered $5 million toward the cost of locating an MRI unit at the new hospital. 'The community wants to see it. I think a lot of other Manitobans want to see it,' said Bereza who provided the example of a man in west Winnipeg who called him to say he had to drive 600 kilometres to Dauphin and back for an MRI, and would have saved time and money if he could have had the scan 85 kilometres away in Portage. The government has maintained that the north was a priority for the next MRI. Linklater said the shortage of technologists has been a challenge for years. 'We know that Shared Health has struggled for a long time to recruit for MRI technologists,' he said. 'There hasn't been a credible plan put out to fix that yet.' Wednesdays Columnist Jen Zoratti looks at what's next in arts, life and pop culture. Asagwara said their government is working on a plan after the former Tory government 'ignored' the issue for nearly eight years. 'We're looking at modernizing the pathway to this training… making the programs more accessible, and introducing them to learners much earlier.' Manitobans are taking the training through distance education, Asagwara pointed out, adding it should be offered here. 'We're working with our really wonderful partners at post-secondary to improve the access to these programs and to create pathways that are easier for Manitobans to navigate.' Carol SandersLegislature reporter Carol Sanders is a reporter at the Free Press legislature bureau. The former general assignment reporter and copy editor joined the paper in 1997. Read more about Carol. Every piece of reporting Carol produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CBC
25-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
New momentum to ease labour mobility rules worries some Manitoba health-care leaders
Federal party leaders and provincial governments are trying to make it easier for workers to seamlessly move between provinces as a response to U.S. tariffs, but some health-care leaders in Manitoba aren't enthusiastic. "It just worries me that nurses are going to take this as an opportunity to strike out and look for greener pastures," Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson said. There's renewed interest in eliminating interprovincial barriers that restrict workers' mobility, now seen as a way to bolster an economy hurting from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs. Provincial governments in Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have introduced legislation or written letters to support worker movement. Jackson, however, worries about potential consequences. She's spent years sounding the alarm about overworked nurses fleeing the public health-care system to quit the profession, work for private agencies or move to other jurisdictions. With no notable change to nurses' working conditions since then, according to Jackson, "I think it's not going to be great for our health-care system" to scrap labour mobility restrictions. Campaign promises Both the Liberals and the Conservatives, the parties with a shot at forming the next federal government, have promised improved mobility. Before the federal election call, the Liberal government called for a Canada-wide credential recognition plan to be developed by June 1. Under that plan, every profession would be brought under the new structure, but it would be up to provinces and territories to decide which jobs to focus on first. The Liberals' election platform also commits to eliminating all federal hurdles to the movement of workers and implementing pan-Canadian licensing for physicians. Meanwhile, the Conservatives have vowed repeatedly to develop a national competency test that allows qualified doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals to work anywhere in Canada. Jackson said she recognizes the benefits. She said she knows of relocated nurses who currently struggle to get licensed in Manitoba. But the existing culture in health-care isn't conducive to recruiting and retaining staff, she said. "I really don't want this to be a way out of Manitoba," she said. "I would rather make things better in Manitoba and keep those nurses." Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals president Jason Linklater shares the worry Manitoba will be hurt by improved labour mobility. The province historically loses more people to interprovincial migration than it gains, but Manitoba's population still grows annually, mainly through immigration from other countries. "I really believe that Manitoba is a fantastic place to live and work, but to keep people here, we're going to need to remain competitive," Linklater said, referring to such areas as wages, scope of practice and working conditions. The contract the union reached with the provincial employer in March includes provisions that will help, he said. But the association representing Canada's physicians hopes the broad interest in updating labour mobility rules will bring lasting changes. "I think if not now, then when?" asked Dr. Joss Reimer, the Winnipeg-based president of the Canadian Medical Association. "This is the first time where we really heard all of the provinces, the health ministers, the premiers talking about this with a common perspective." Reimer said giving physicians the freedom to move with ease won't lead to an exodus. Physicians can already move to a new jurisdiction if they want. "It's worth the cost, it's worth the paperwork" for them, but the current rules are a barrier to out-of-province physicians who, for example, want to help a northern Manitoba hospital on a short-term basis but don't think applying for a Manitoba licence is worth it. Boon for rural hospitals: Reimer Changing the rules won't solve the physician shortage, but it will help, Reimer said. "I think the most likely outcome is we're going to see that rural and remote areas will benefit the most from a policy like this." Doctors Manitoba, a physician advocacy group, said in a statement it's intrigued by pan-Canadian licensing, but other changes, such as simplifying the path to licensing for international physicians, would better tackle the doctor shortage. The association also said easing labour mobility limits would be complicated, because doctors are regulated provincially. A Manitoba cabinet minister said helping people freely move between jurisdictions would be a net positive for the province. "You can have a good job here, own a home and sometimes even own a cottage," said Jamie Moses, minister of business, mining, trade and job creation. "These are the opportunities that we're selling to the rest of the country, on top of being a beautiful province with great opportunities, culture and life," he said. "We want to make sure more people know this." Moses said the government is focused on addressing the challenges in health care to make it an attractive field. The province hired 1,255 additional health-care workers over nine months in 2024. More mobility could mean losing health-care workers: Manitoba union heads 4 minutes ago Duration 2:04 Union leaders are concerned a proposal to ease labour mobility rules across the country will lead workers who feel overworked in Manitoba's health-care system to flee.
