Tories challenge government over listening tour cost

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This article was published 27/03/2025 (203 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Manitoba’s official Opposition is accusing the government of withholding feedback that health-care workers have shared on a listening tour in a sector plagued by staffing shortages and low morale.

The NDP has organized eight formal visits to talk with physicians, nurses and their colleagues at their workplaces. The tour is expected to resume this spring with yet-to-be-announced dates in rural and northern communities.

PC health critic Kathleen Cook tabled freedom of information documents revealing the cost of consultations between November 2023 and 2024, and that no related briefings were prepared for executive council.

“With nearly $10,000 worth of footage collected from these events, the NDP should have had no trouble compiling a comprehensive and detailed report on what they heard,” Cook told the legislative assembly Wednesday.

Health department receipts show the bulk of $10,257.51 spent on six stops — Brandon Regional Health Centre, Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg, Thompson General Hospital and the Grace, St. Boniface and Victoria General hospitals — covered recording expenses during the first year of the initiative.

Another request for records from the tour was rejected “because they do not exist,” per a letter from the executive council’s access and privacy branch.

The Progressive Conservatives did not present a request seeking similar information from Manitoba Health, Seniors and Long-Term Care.

Following question period, the health minister defended the information their office has shared publicly and indicated ensuring health-care workers have felt safe to share their honest opinions has been a priority.

Audio recordings and note-taking has taken place at events, but participants were reassured their voices would be protected, Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara told reporters.

Asagwara noted front-line feedback has resulted in the opening of more beds, increased security measures and an expansion of patient discharges in emergency departments from five to seven days a week.

“A lot of the actions our government has taken have come directly from the front lines and so, we’ll continue to listen to health-care workers, even though the PCs want to say it’s a bad idea,” Asagwara said.

The related expenses include microphones, technology support and refreshments, per the province.

Cook questioned why a roundup of expenses states the province spent thousands of dollars on “film video production” — a line item the minister’s press secretary said refers to audio recordings. That expense suggests the tour has been “little more than a PR stunt,” the health critic said.

“This was the cornerstone of their health policy for the first year of their mandate and they have nothing to show for it,” Cook said, saying the province could have redacted personal information if that was an issue.

» Winnipeg Free Press