NDP Call on Premier to Admit her Health Care Cuts Caused Crisis at the Grace

Treaty 1 and Dakota Territory, Homeland of the Red River Métis Nation, Winnipeg MB— As the first party to nominate a candidate for the Kirkfield Park byelection, the Manitoba NDP stood outside the Grace Hospital today calling for an end to PC health care cuts – cuts that Premier Stefanson denies her party made.

“Ask any patient or health care worker at the Grace if they believe Premier Stefanson when she says her party hasn’t made health care cuts – and they’ll tell you that’s just not true,” said NDP Leader Wab Kinew. “Just like Brian Pallister, Premier Stefanson is misleading Manitobans about her parties' cuts, and she’s leaving families in Kirkfield Park and Health care workers at the Grace on their own. In this by-election families have the chance to vote for a government that will work with healthcare workers to fix the damage the PCs caused and ensure families get the care they need here in Kirkfield Park.”

In June of 2022 at a PC fundraising gala, Premier Heather Stefanson told a room full of PC donors that “when [the NDP] talk about cuts to health care that’s false, it’s not true.” But reports from the Grace hospital tell a different story.

In May of 2021, a Grace nurse outlined the desperate conditions at the hospital where patients were waiting up to 50 hours to receive care. When the NDP brought these concerns forward, Premier Heather Stefanson, who was Health Minister at the time, said in response “if there is challenges out there, we will address them.” One year later, in May 2022, a Grace ER nurse told media that there were an average of 20 patients waiting in the hallways for care. In July 2022, media reported that there was no doctor available at the Grace ER to treat a man in extreme pain as a result of post-surgery complications.

“Families and seniors in Kirkfield Park deserve health care that’s there when they need it and frontline workers deserve a workplace where they feel safe,” said NDP candidate for Kirkfield Park Logan Oxenham. “But after 6 years of PC health care cuts, the Grace hospital is in crisis. Premier Stefanson claims she hasn’t made health care cuts, but the ongoing crisis at the Grace hospital tells a different story. This by-election is our chance to elect the only party that will fix health care and end the crisis at the Grace.”