Auditor general’s triple assault reveals scope of Stefanson regime’s incompetence

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This article was published 27/07/2023 (820 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was a stark day of reckoning for the Stefanson government this week. After months of raiding the public treasury to fund an aggressive propaganda campaign to prop up its sagging image before a scheduled fall election, three damning reports from Manitoba’s auditor general released Wednesday cast a pall over the Tories’ record on elder abuse, addictions treatment and court services.

What the investigations showed is that years of budget restraint, a woeful lack of government oversight and a failure to prioritize key front-line services has negatively impacted some of Manitoba’s most vulnerable people.

Nowhere was that more obvious than the treatment of seniors in personal-care homes, where years of physical and sexual abuse were kept under wraps and a breakdown of accountability measures to monitor the mistreatment was ignored by government.

Auditor general Tyson Shtykalo’s office investigated the province’s Protection for Persons in Care Office after receiving numerous complaints that abuse against residents of personal-care homes were being covered up. The auditor general found that between 2015 and 2021, the PPCO identified many cases of assault and sexual assault against seniors. However, PPCO management did not consider them abuse because the assaults did not meet management’s misguided interpretation of what constitutes abuse under provincial legislation. Shockingly, it appears no one in government bothered to monitor PPCO procedures. If they did, they ignored them.

Staffing cuts and shortages in the PPCO also contributed to delays in investigating cases, some of which took three years or more to complete. In some cases, victims of abuse died before investigations were concluded.

Premier Heather Stefanson said Wednesday her government responded to the crisis as soon as it learned of the auditor general’s findings. What she failed to explain is why her government didn’t act when there were clear signs years ago that the accountability measures to monitor abuse disappeared.

In 2016, the PPCO — which falls under the jurisdiction of the minister of health — stopped producing annual reports, or any documentation showing the number and nature of cases investigated.

Where was the oversight by the minister, including from Stefanson, who was minister of health and seniors care from January 2021 to August 2021? Why was the minister’s office not demanding annual reports, or any documentation, from the PPCO, especially given the heightened awareness in recent years around the abuse and mistreatment of elderly people in long-term care facilities?

This was a major failure by government that resulted in the perpetuation of assaults against seniors. Manitobans won’t see that in any of government’s pre-election ads.

Nor will those ads show how badly the Stefanson government dropped the ball on addictions treatment for people with substance-abuse disorders. The auditor general found in a separate report that a severe shortage of capacity is causing people seeking treatment to be turned away. More than 1,200 Manitobans who sought treatment through Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine clinics were denied help over a 12-month period ending June 30, 2022.

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That’s in stark contrast to the Tory ads that claim the province is tackling the root causes of crime by ramping up addictions services. The propaganda doesn’t match the audited record.

The same applies to the taxpayer-funded ads that claim the Progressive Conservative government is getting tough on criminals through the court system. A third auditor general report shows there are long delays in court cases driven, in large part, by a lack of funding and staff shortages. The problem is particularly acute in the North, where nearly half of court clerk positions are vacant.

Court delays mean those who break the law are not facing consequences for their actions in a timely manner. It’s the opposite of what government is advertising. The delays also contribute to overcrowding in provincial jails, where the majority of inmates are awaiting the outcome of their court cases. Crowded jails put corrections officers and inmates at risk.

This is bad government. It’s sloppy and it’s lazy. The need for government oversight of personal-care homes and robust support in areas such as addictions treatment and court services has never been greater. They require the full commitment and attention of ministers and the premier to ensure the resources are in place to drive improvements in those areas. The auditor general’s reports clearly show that is not happening.

tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca

Tom Brodbeck
Columnist

Tom Brodbeck is an award-winning author and columnist with over 30 years experience in print media. He joined the Free Press in 2019. Born and raised in Montreal, Tom graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and commerce. Read more about Tom.

Tom provides commentary and analysis on political and related issues at the municipal, provincial and federal level. His columns are built on research and coverage of local events. The Free Press’s editing team reviews Tom’s columns before they are posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press’s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.