Premier’s speech highlights rural paramedic training, Port of Churchill jobs

BRANDON — A college in the Westman region is moving to bolster emergency medical care for rural Manitobans, with a plan to add 32 seats to a primary care paramedic program early next year.

Speaking during a state of the province address in Brandon Thursday, Premier Wab Kinew announced $115,000 for Assiniboine College, which will support the creation of the new training seats in January.

The first cohort will have 16 spots and be offered at Assiniboine’s Parkland campus in Dauphin in January, while a second cohort with the same number of seats will start at a different location later next year.

“The whole idea is to get more people into the parts of the health-care system where we need them, instead of waiting for folks to come to the hubs like Winnipeg, like Brandon,” Kinew said during his State of the Province address hosted by the Brandon Chamber of Commerce.

“We’re going to put more effort into reaching people where they’re at today.”

The training in smaller communities will help keep rural residents closer to home and allow them to stay there to work, he said.

He added that return-of-service agreements will also be in place for graduates to work in their communities, ensuring they have a job offer as soon as their training is completed.

“This is a really good model to make sure that folks stay in the communities where they come from,” Kinew told a crowd of about 450 people at the Keystone Centre.

The premier said the investment will “build a stronger pipeline of paramedics for communities across the region” and allow future paramedics to receive training closer to home.

During the 2023 election, the NDP pledged to add 200 net-new paramedics to Manitoba’s workforce within its first term. The next election must be held by Oct. 5, 2027.

The official responsible for emergency medical services in Brandon said the provincial announcement is “an extremely important step” for the area.

“Any time we can increase the amount of paramedics coming out of the colleges and institutions, it’s huge for the province,” Brandon Fire and Emergency Services Chief Terry Parlow said just after Kinew’s speech ended.

“We are very short, especially in southwestern Manitoba. So, them being in Dauphin and staying in Dauphin and helping out, that helps everybody.”

Parlow sad the rural areas have had a hard time attracting and retaining paramedics and often rely on Brandon crews to help.

“It’s a struggle. So, when we’re actually training the paramedics in communities like Dauphin, and they’re people from Dauphin, they tend to stay in Dauphin or the area, so that’s very important.”

The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals raised the alarm in April over paramedic staffing levels in rural Manitoba. It called for more direct-entry primary-care paramedic education seats and targeted bursaries.

In a statement, union president Jason Linklater said the new seats are “a start,” but he urged the province to make further investments.

He wants the government to subsidize the cost of paramedic training, arguing it will help fill seats and encourage new graduates to stay in Manitoba.

“The critical shortage of paramedics, and the government’s election commitment to add 200 net new paramedics, requires a significant mobilization of resources and focus to retain, train and recruit,” Linklater said.

“We’re two and half years in, and so far paramedics haven’t seen that level of commitment from government. In fact, Shared Health’s actions have made the situation worse. The association remains ready to work with government to turn the paramedic staffing crisis around.”

The provincial government announced 14 direct-entry seats at Red River College Polytechnic last November, alongside 16 for University College of the North in Thompson.

In April, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the province has hired 41 net new paramedics.

The union has disputed those figures, saying vacancies of advanced, intermediate and primary-care paramedic positions hit 24.8 per cent in December, up from 14.5 per cent two years earlier.

During the speech, Kinew highlighted the Port of Churchill and its impacts on Westman. He called it “probably the biggest energy project that Manitoba has ever seen,” and said Prime Minister Mark Carney has been clear that he wants to see liquefied natural gas moving out of the port by 2030.

The investment, he said, is “on the scale” of around $30 billion and would mean five to six per cent economic growth each year as it is built.

“When you think Churchill, you should think opportunity for Westman at the same time,” Kinew said. “Because not only are tradespeople and contractors going to be heading north to build there. You’re going to have a whole lot of economic activity to the south and to the west of where we are today.”

Speaking to reporters after his speech, Kinew said the transit of western Canadian resources to Churchill will start in the province’s southwestern corner.

“That’s going to be great for the oil patch in our province. That will be great for Brandon as the hub in the region,” the premier said.

“Every tradesperson, every contractor, every subcontractor is going to have a chance at working for the next decade on some of these big energy projects.”

— Brandon Sun, with Free Press files