NDP targets ‘broken promise’ of Tory health-care record

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This article was published 08/08/2023 (1115 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba New Democrats dusted off the Progressive Conservatives’ 2019 election campaign platform to attack the government for breaking promises on health care — claims the Tories later decried as fear-mongering amid $8 billion in health-care spending.

On Tuesday, Opposition health critic Uzoma Asagwara said the Stefanson government failed to deliver on 10 health-care promises the PCs made to voters on the campaign trail four years ago.

“These were important, key commitments and (Premier Heather) Stefanson’s PCs have simply failed to get it done — and that is a broken promise,” Asagwara said during a news conference at the party’s Portage Avenue headquarters.

The Tories earned a second, four-year term in 2019, in part, by pledging to hire 200 additional nurses and 80 rural paramedics, recruit more physicians, increase cataract surgery volumes, and bring Manitoba up to national wait time standards, among other promises on healthcare.

The government came up short on all those commitments, Asagwara said, pointing to documents previously released by the Opposition, reports from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and the Canadian Institute for Health Information, as well as government websites and news reports.

As of December, there were about 290 fewer nurses employed by WRHA compared to December 2016; the average number of paramedics working for Shared Health dropped by 87 in 2022-23 compared to 2020-21; and the government failed to meet its commitment to increase ultrasounds by more than 25,000 cases, the NDP noted.

The Union Station MLA was joined by seven other NDP candidates and MLAs, including Southdale candidate Renée Cable, who is challenging incumbent Health Minister Audrey Gordon in the general election Oct. 3.

“After seven years of Brian Pallister and Heather Stefanson, our health-care system is at a breaking point,” Cable said. “Under Audrey Gordon’s and Heather Stefanson’s watch, we have fewer nurses and fewer paramedics, longer wait times and less supports for seniors.”

“After seven years of Brian Pallister and Heather Stefanson, our health-care system is at a breaking point.”–Southdale candidate Renée Cable

In a lengthy statement, a government spokesperson pointed to $1.3 billion in multi-year capital spending to improve health-care facilities; regulatory changes to get internationally educated nurses and doctors working in Manitoba; the addition of 80 physician training seats; and overseas recruitment of nurses and aides as just a few examples of investments in health care.

“Today’s announcements from the NDP continue to fear monger, perpetuate a false narrative, and only serve to reinforce the fact that the NDP have yet to provide any information about the NDP plan for the health care of Manitobans,” the spokesperson said. “This is in stark contrast to the concrete action being taken by our PC government to heal health care.

“We are making historic investments in the health-care system… including nearly $8 billion this year alone, which is nearly $2 billion more than the previous government.”

(The NDP were in power 1999 to 2016.)

The Tories’ past campaign pledges also included building a new emergency department at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, and expanding mental health and addiction treatment services.

The expansion at St. B is scheduled to open in 2025, and the government has boasted the addition of more than 1,000 addictions treatment spaces. Last month, the Tory government said it would double spending on its health human resources action plan, with a focus on rural and northern paramedics.

However, Asagwara argued the unfulfilled promises from 2019 show the PCs are unlikely to follow through on announcements made prior to the pre-election government communications blackout last week.

“Their record shows that PC promises are empty promises,” Asagwara said.

danielle.dasilva@freepress.mb.ca