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Winnipeg Free Press

Letters, Aug 7

Opinion Re: Nurses give NDP a fail on working conditions (July 30) and Public patience wearing thin waiting on NDP health fix (Aug. 1) The number of active practicing RNs, RPNs and LPNs in Manitoba continues to grow each year, and yet there is no tangible improvement to working conditions and the effects of the problem on the overall health care system. The June 2005 Five Year Progress Report on the Manitoba Nursing Strategy indicates a total of 14,175 practicing RNs, RPNs and LPNs in 2000. The 2024 annual reports for the three regulatory colleges shows the total number of active practicing nurses in Manitoba to be 19,731. This obviously begs the question when there are more nurses in Manitoba than ever before, why are there are still high numbers of vacancies, overtime rates and poor working conditions for nurses? One factor is likely a high ratio of part-time to full-time nursing positions. The ideal ratio cited by the 2002 Canadian Nursing Advisory Committee Report is 70 per cent full-time to 30 per cent part-time. However, even getting to 60 per cent full-time would be a step toward stabilizing Manitoba's nursing workforce. While other provinces have reached or are close to the 70/30 ratio (Canadian Institute for Health Information reports), by all observations Manitoba is probably in the 50 per cent or lower range. It was 39 per cent in 2000 when Manitoba first collected and publicly reported nursing workforce data, which it continued to do for 10 years as part of the province's Nursing Strategy. The government should work with nursing groups to establish and articulate clear, measurable goals and report their progress, as well as publicly releasing nursing workforce data that includes the full-time/part-time ratios for lasting, permanent nursing positions. And as a final point, increasing nursing full-time ratios can be done while respecting the importance of work-life balance for nurses and those who choose to work part-time. By allowing nurses to job share a 1.0 full-time equivalent position as one option, Ontario was able to reach a ratio of 71 per cent full-time positions for RNs. There is now 25 years of evidence in Manitoba to support the need for the nursing workforce issues to be addressed by means other than adding more nurses to the system. Liz Ambrose Winnipeg I take exception to Francis Newman's claim that even hateful views should be allowed. Hateful views are a slippery slope to more hate. We should not tolerate hateful views; especially when they target vulnerable people. Democracy is better when we stop expressing hateful views. As for Sean Feucht's concert; I'm glad his concert was cancelled as Central Park was not the place for that. Central Park is a public space meant for the residents to enjoy. Sean Feucht is still free to find a private space for his concert. Leanne Hanuschuk Winnipeg Re: Optometrists refuse to treat urgent cases over fee dispute with province, July 23 While bringing public attention to this important situation, this article overlooks the critical role that ophthalmologists play in emergency eye care. An ophthalmologist is a physician and surgeon, trained in medical and surgical eye care. Optometrists are trained to provide primary eye care which includes performing eye exams, refractions for glasses and treating a limited scope of eye diseases. Unlike ophthalmologists, optometrists are not medical doctors and do not perform surgery. Ophthalmologists and optometrists work together to provide comprehensive eye care. There are no optometrists based at Misericordia seeing emergency eye patients, which this article seems to imply. Patients with an eye problem may initially present to their optometrist, family doctor, emergency department or the Misericordia Health Centre (MHC). The MHC has a Clinical Resource Team consisting of a primary care physician and a nurse who see emergency eye patients at Misericordia. This team was developed after the 2017 closure of Misericordia Urgent Care. The WRHA has recently been trying to recruit more physicians for the CRT to deal with the higher volume of patients redirected from optometry offices due to their job action. Patients seen at Misericordia or elsewhere are assessed and treated as appropriate or referred to the ophthalmologist on call for eye emergencies who is often located at a private clinic. Ophthalmologists manage eye emergencies in Manitoba and surrounding areas (population 1.75 million) and take referrals from other doctors and optometrists. There are only 19 ophthalmologists covering general on call eye services in this catchment area, which translates to a ratio of 1.08 ophthalmologists per 100,000 population. Whereas the rest of Canada has three to four ophthalmologists per 100,000 population, we have an ophthalmology staffing shortage that will worsen with imminent retirements. EPSOM (Eye Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba) has been advocating for a better system and the development of a properly structured and staffed urgent eye clinic at Misericordia with ophthalmologists on site. The job action that optometrists have taken since March 2025 has caused increased stress to an already overburdened system by directing more patients to Misericordia and consequently more referrals to ophthalmology. This has caused further delays in booking routine ophthalmology consultations and surgeries, compromising expeditious patient care. We hope that the government can support our work and improve this system at all levels. J. W. Rahman, MD FRCSC President of EPSOM Winnipeg Re: Imagining that the machine is human (Aug. 5) David Nutbean made many good points about computers and AI. However, declaring that 'they don't really think' should be done cautiously. I agree that AI systems are not human. 'Being human' suggests cognitive and many biological characteristics. Today's AI systems share few of those. 'Thinking' is trickier. Yes, computer technology and human brains differ greatly, but does that mean AI doesn't think? Many mysteries remain about human cognition, so precisely defining what thinking means is difficult. If thinking includes both what humans do mentally and how we do it, then its definition seems guaranteed to exclude all non-humans. However, if a 'thinking' definition ignores how it's done, and instead includes various what characteristics like reacting, reasoning, creating, remembering and communicating, then AI systems are in the ballpark. If thinking must include feeling emotion, how can we distinguish between a person angrily disputing a referee's ruling and the ranting of the Grok AI system? How can we objectively know the difference between a person and ChatGPT saying 'I love you'? Until we clearly understand what it means to think, we shouldn't rush to declare that humans can and that computers cannot. If what Donald Trump does is an example of thinking, then what characteristic would disqualify AI systems? Calvin Brown RM of St. Andrews