Health care the biggest issue Manitobans face

Tyndall Park

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/02/2026 (182 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

All too regularly we read news accounts of negative patient experiences, struggling and overworked health-care staff and, sadly, deaths of patients waiting for care. All of these things affect our likelihood to seek medical attention, and they do not do justice to the good experiences and good work that is being done in our hospitals and emergency rooms.

The NDP ran on a promise to “fix” health care, blaming everything bad on previous PC government cuts and mismanagement. That said, this government is now two-and-a-half years into its mandate and billboards around Winnipeg still read “Same Shift…Different Day” – a point that is underlined by the continued stories in the news.

The federal government is investing tens of millions of dollars in Manitoba (and other provinces) to support health-care infrastructure. I believe there is a golden opportunity for the province to use some of this money to reopen the Seven Oaks Hospital emergency room. This is something the NDP government promised during the election campaign and it is badly needed in the North End.

The government is good at saying it is listening, but there has been little action. While it campaigned on reopening the ER at Seven Oaks hospital, there is no timeline, announcement, commitment or even sketched-out plan.

Currently, two hospitals in Manitoba have been “grey-listed” by the Manitoba Nurses Union owing to severe safety concerns. Nurses at St. Boniface Hospital are preparing to vote on this reputation-damaging designation, because of their frustrations and many unreported incidents. If these hospitals are considered unsafe by staff, we can infer they are also unsafe for patients and visitors.

Recent news stories from Manitoba and Alberta have also pushed doctors across Canada to speak up about patients dying while waiting for care in an ER. ER doctors in Alberta recently documented six cases of patients dying while waiting for emergency services. In Manitoba, a recent Doctors Manitoba survey indicated that only 40 per cent of doctors feel they can raise such concerns without fear of consequences. This may be a significant factor in how doctors feel about working in our province and could be contributing to the difficulties we have retaining physicians.

Our province needs to work with the federal government and spend the healthcare infrastructure dollars wisely. We must act quickly before any other preventable tragedies occur and properly staff these spaces with doctors and nurses who are supported. The government needs to encourage health-care professionals to be honest about what they are experiencing and witnessing, and we need to hold this government accountable to its commitments.