Manitoba spars with Ottawa over COVID supplies

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This article was published 01/10/2020 (1548 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two days after Health Canada approved a rapid COVID-19 test, the province says the federal government is blocking its plans to buy the equipment.

Central Services Minister Reg Helwer held a news conference Friday to demand that the federal government allow it to purchase ID NOW rapid tests from Abbott Diagnostics in the U.S. The test can deliver results within 13 minutes of a patient being swabbed, without sending the specimen to a lab. Helwer wouldn’t say how many of the ID NOW rapid tests Manitoba had planned to buy, only that Ottawa won’t let the province buy any.

“This is a completely unacceptable action by the federal government,” he said. “In response to our attempt to place a significant order for the rapid tests for use here in Manitoba, we were advised (Ottawa) had blocked direct sale of rapid tests to provinces and territories,” said Helwer.

Premier Brian Pallister has written to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau asking him to relieve Abbott Diagnostics of any prohibitions on the sale of the ID NOW rapid tests, he said.

“This will enable our government to make immediate arrangements for the purchase of a sufficient number of testing machines and kits so we can actively and effectively deploy this resource here in Manitoba.”

The press conference capped two weeks of public outcry in Manitoba over long waits and lines for the COVID-19 nasal pharyngeal swabs. Several sites in Winnipeg had reached daily capacity by early afternoon, with people being told to return the next day.

The federal government reported this week that it had ordered 3,800 of the rapid-test analyzer units and eight million testing kits. It said 2.5 million tests are to be delivered before the end of the year to the Public Health Agency of Canada, which will distribute the tests to the provinces. They’re most likely to be sent to rural and remote communities with limited or no access to lab testing and other high-risk locations, such as care homes and schools. Provinces should be able to purchase and deploy their own rapid COVID-19 tests, Helwer said Friday.

“Provincial governments are the frontline providers of health care,” he said. “We are the ones best able to determine our own needs.” Helwer said it is the latest example of the federal government disregarding Manitoba’s needs.

Early in the pandemic, Manitoba’s $12-million order for two million N95 masks was blocked by the U.S. government and redirected to Ottawa, so the province received a fraction of the masks to which it was entitled, Helwer said. Ottawa also cancelled $55 million in funding for a program to help improve fibre-optic access in northern Manitoba, he said.

On Friday, federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said his government hasn’t blocked provinces from accessing COVID-19 supplies.

“Our government has been using the same agreed to approach we have used since the beginning of the pandemic, while working to ensure that tests are going to where they are needed the most. We have been working on bulk purchases with provinces and territories throughout the pandemic and will continue to do so, LeBlanc said.

“We will follow up. It was the first time the prime minister and I had heard that specific example from Premier Pallister on the phone (Thursday) evening.”

LeBlanc said the prime minister is committed to making sure provinces get the supplies they need “but that of course applies right across the country as well, to every other province and territory.”

He did not discuss Helwer’s allegations about N95 masks being diverted to Ottawa.

Manitoba NDP Opposition Leader Wab Kinew called on the two levels of government to co-operate for the sake of the public.

“Can we have the federal and provincial governments work quickly to meet the needs of Manitobans?” Kinew asked. “We need to increase testing capacity.” People are travelling far from home and hitting the highway in search of a COVID-19 testing site where they have a chance of getting a swab that day. “We’ve got them driving out to Steinbach,” Kinew said.

Manitoba Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont accused the Pallister government of trying to shift the blame.

“This is a deliberate attempt to once again blame the federal government for their inaction and lack of proper pandemic planning as COVID testing lineups continue to get longer,” Lamont said in an email.

— With files from Dylan Robertson

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca