Friday October 9, in Question Period I asked about the severe cut backs to Manitoba's home care program during the pandemic. As you will see below the Minister of Health completely failed to even address the question. This failure to address the question is unbecoming of a Minister of Health. Rather than address the question, he bragged about the government's response to the COVID-19 epidemic. His bragging is poorly times for it is increasingly apparent that the Pallister government was woefully unprepared for the second wave of the pandemic.
COVID-19 and Home-Care
Services
Timing of Funding Changes
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, in the name of austerity
and in spite of increased spending from Ottawa, the Pallister government has
made deep, deep cuts into Manitoba's Home Care program. These cuts are so
severe that families who were once able to rely on Home Care for their
physically or mentally struggling loved ones now report to me that the program
has essentially collapsed compared to what it was.
Why has the
Premier (Mr. Pallister) eviscerated Manitoba's Home Care program at the very
time when it was so critically needed during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Hon. Cameron Friesen (Minister of
Health, Seniors and Active Living): All members of the House know that this government's
response in COVID-19 came quickly; it came early; it has
been comprehensive. We have even gained the encouragement from
members on the other side who said, way to go, this is a good
response. We've received those messages.
Those members
know that we have redeployed workforce, that we have sought, right now, to
restart our surgeries and procedures and diagnostics to bring those wait times
down. We have done massive work to stand up capacity. We have brought
co-visitation shelters to keep seniors safe in personal-care homes.
I regret the fact
that the time doesn't allow me to continue to talk about all the ways in which
we are expanding on our response to COVID-19.
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