On Thursday April 3 our
Manitoba Liberal Caucus put out a statement of concern about Manitoba's
Pandemic Preparedness. It is below:
As the COVID-19
pandemic spreads, Manitoba Liberals have been working hard to collect and share
the distresses of our constituents and other concerned Manitobans with the
government.
While the government
has taken many necessary steps that will slow the spread of COVID-19, we are
growing concerned that the government is not acting quickly enough to deal with
both the health and economic challenges we all face.
There is a lot of
uncertainty and an enormous amount of emergency preparedness work that must be
done. Most people agree that we need to commit resources to health and to the
economy to minimize the impact.
When it comes to
health, there are three separate announcements that are a matter of concern:
• Shared Health has
created a website to ask Manitoba businesses to donate essential specialized
medical equipment, including ventilators, gowns, masks, disinfectants and
cleaners. As a legislature, we voted unanimously to approve an expenditure of
$31-million on supplies. A Winnipeg manufacturer, Bomimed makes ventilators.
Why is Shared Health resorting to donations?
Manitoba Liberals
believe the government should be buying these supplies or getting Manitoba
manufacturers to produce them, as has happened in other jurisdictions.
• The recall of nurses
is also concerning. The government has had a troubled relationship with nurses
who have faced mandatory overtime and complaints of burnout long before the
pandemic was a threat.
A large number of
nurses retired rather than go through the disruptive changes the government has
imposed on Manitoba's health system. The announcement that fees and other
registrations will be waived are positive, but point to a shortage of nurses in
the system.
Manitoba Liberals
believe the government should assure nurses they will be paid properly.
• Two of the top WRHA
Executives left Canada on vacation at the beginning of the month and had to
self-isolate on their return. As of March 27, 2020 media report stated "As
a global pandemic was looming the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief
Operating Officer of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority left Canada.
Manitoba Liberals
first called on the PC Government to issue a COVID-19 plan on March 2. The
departure of the senior leadership of the WRHA on a vacation out of country
calls into question how seriously health care leadership was taking COVID-19.
When it comes to the
economy, we are also concerned the province is too slow to act. The Federal
Government and every other province have announced supports for small
businesses that are facing insolvency due to a total collapse in revenue.
Manitoba is the only province that has not announced income or revenue supports
to people and businesses.
For businesses to
bounce back after this shutdown, they still have to be solvent. More loans,
even interest-free loans, are not what businesses need. We have called for the
government to announce support for business that have to close. One of the most
important would be to commit to covering the overhead for businesses so they
can pay their rent and utilities for three months.
This is not an
ordinary recession. We are facing record unemployment and economic disruptions.
The faster we delivery certainty to business and people, the easier the next
few weeks will be.
We call, again, on the
PC Government to:
• Make emergency
investments in order to ensure our health system has the supplies it needs,
including providing financing for Manitoba companies to retool to produce
supplies
• Ensure that nurses
and health care professionals have the tools and financial support throughout
this crisis
• Review the staffing
at the WRHA and other bodies to ensure that pandemic experts are in place
• Announce economic
measures to support businesses that will ensure Manitoba's businesses can
bounce back
Dougald Lamont, MLA
St. Boniface
Jon Gerrard, MLA River
Heights
Cindy Lamoureux, MLA
Tyndall Park
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