Stefanson, Gordon can’t even find their fiddles while health system burns By: Dan Lett Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Apr. 19, 2023 Last Modified: 12:11 PM CDT Thursday, Apr. 20, 2023 Updates

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This article was published 19/04/2023 (919 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s getting hard to believe Premier Heather Stefanson and Health Minister Audrey Gordon believe anything they say about health care.

On Tuesday, at a time when government is still struggling to reduce elective surgical wait lists, the NDP tabled a letter in question period from orthopedic surgeons at Grace Hospital to Gordon that indicated the number of joint replacement surgeries was being cut.

According to the letter, addressed to Gordon last November, a lack of staffing (read: nurses) is lengthening the wait times for trauma patient treatments and forcing delays and cancellations for non-urgent surgical patients. Rather than spend money to bolster staffing and reduce wait times, the hospital was directed by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority to reduce elective surgical procedures by 20 per cent.

Appeals to the WRHA and Shared Health for support went unanswered. “The public needs to be aware of this dire situation, particularly in the presence of apathy and no demonstrable willingness for change,” the surgeons wrote.

The response provided by Stefanson and Gordon to the letter’s release was equal parts shock and awe.

The shock came when the premier and the health minister accused the NDP of tabling a fabricated letter, largely because the names of the signatories had been redacted. Although it is hardly unprecedented for redacted documents to be tabled in the legislature, Stefanson and Gordon repeatedly disputed this one’s legitimacy.

Stefanson characterized it as “false information.” Gordon accused the NDP of tabling “a blank piece of paper with no signatures” with “no proof that it has, in fact, come from who they say it’s come from.”

That turned out to be an odd and exceedingly risky strategy, given that the letter and its contents were real.

The Free Press was able to independently confirm it was written by Grace surgeons, and spoke to one of the signatories. The newspaper was also able to confirm a directive was issued to the hospital to reduce elective surgeries.

Grace Hospital surgeons wait months for government action on ‘dire situation’

And that brings us to the awe. It appears the premier and her minister disputed the veracity of the letter because they didn’t know it existed.

That is an astonishing revelation. At a time when the capacity of the health-care system is stretched to the very limits of its capacity, how could government not know that orthopedic surgeons at one of the city’s largest hospitals were so alarmed about standards of care, they sent an SOS to the minister asking for help.

Equally astonishing is the knowledge that the Progressive Conservative government seems to be ignoring the opportunity to do more surgeries at the hospital.

How can we be sure they didn’t know about the letter?

First, if the premier and health minister knew what was going on, they would have disputed the assertions made by the surgeons rather than claiming the letter was a fake. The Grace is not the only hospital performing this kind of elective surgery; the minister could have pointed out that while fewer were being done at that facility, more were being done elsewhere.

But Stefanson and Gordon did not do that; they claimed the letter didn’t exist.

And second, on Wednesday, Stefanson and Gordon more or less admitted they were in the dark.

The premier’s office said it was able to confirm the letter’s “veracity” after question period. And Gordon, reluctantly and remarkably, admitted that not only did her office receive the letter, she responded to it.

Although Stefanson might ultimately have an excuse for being in the dark — she’s not the health minister, after all — it is incomprehensible that Gordon could be so detached from this issue.

Cabinet ministers are not expected to know every minute detail within their departments. It’s largely why the parliamentary tradition of “taking a question on notice” was established; it’s an admission the minister needs more time to get accurate information to provide a full answer.

Although Stefanson might ultimately have an excuse for being in the dark… it is incomprehensible that Gordon could be so detached from this issue.

Ministers must, however, know about the big issues. To help them meet that expectation, all cabinet ministers enter the legislative chamber with a briefing book updated by staff on a daily basis so they don’t get caught on the wrong side of the facts when opposition members raise an issue.

Reporters would have, no doubt, asked Gordon what she knew and didn’t know if she possessed the intestinal fortitude to face them after question period. Instead, she ducked out, leaving reporters, opposition critics and — most importantly — the voting public with the image of an absentee minister who does not have command and control over her department.

This incident confirms there is a growing chasm between what appears to be happening in the health-care system and what the premier and her health minister are telling Manitobans.

This incident confirms there is a growing chasm between what appears to be happening in the health-care system and what the premier and her health minister are telling Manitobans.

If, at the moment they called the letter a fake, Stefanson and Gordon both knew what was going on at the Grace but denied the story in a desperate bid to quash it, that is one thing. Making an outlandish claim for political purposes may be cynical, but it’s defensible within the rules of engagement.

But if they actually believe what they are saying, and didn’t know what was going on, this government has a much bigger problem than its unfamiliarity with the truth.

dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com

Dan Lett
Columnist

Dan Lett is a columnist for the Free Press, providing opinion and commentary on politics in Winnipeg and beyond. Born and raised in Toronto, Dan joined the Free Press in 1986.  Read more about Dan.

Dan’s columns are built on facts and reactions, but offer his personal views through arguments and analysis. The Free Press’ editing team reviews Dan’s columns before they are posted online or published in print — part of the our tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.