As we start 2025, Manitobans should let their government know that it should commit to putting the health care of Manitobans ahead before any other interest.
Manitoba can begin in one area: Using private nurses to help supplement the public system.
This past December, Manitoba banned signing new contracts with private nursing agencies. The government had already stopped this practice months ago but has stated it will stop any new contracts ostensibly to provide more oversight over the practice. The province will request proposals if agencies wish to practice in Manitoba.
Manitoba’s public health providers have hundreds of contracts with over 70 private nursing agencies. No one should be against setting basic guidelines for these contracts. However, it is not hard to see the fingerprints of public sector unions in some of the growing opposition.
The government ought to signal it intends to embrace these private nursing agencies fully. This can signal the province has adopted a more flexible approach towards healthcare delivery in 2025 and beyond.
The Manitoba Nurses Union has never been friendly to any competition and frequently identifies its interests with those of the Manitoba public. Nurses’ unions – like all public sector unions – tend to see for-profit agencies as coming at the expense of the public system. These union interests see using both public and private healthcare workers as a zero-sum game. They see using private workers as always coming at the expense of public health.
Like many Canadians, Manitobans might be surprised to learn that our country is unique in this way of thinking. Private and public nurses co-exist in many universal healthcare systems worldwide without any fear public health care will collapse. Health authorities are using private nursing agencies – or ‘travel nurses’ – across Canada to provide temporary fill-ins to plug staffing gaps.
Health authorities in other provinces have likewise called for more practice regulation as it becomes common place. Again, regulation is good. Nursing unions should have their say over new regulations, not a veto.
Manitoba should ensure private nursing agencies provide quality, affordable care. After all, we are still paying for these agencies out of the public purse.
However, regulation should not serve as a way for public sector unions and interest groups to curb competition and maintain a government stranglehold on healthcare delivery. Governments should embrace all options – public, not-for-profit, and for-profit agencies – in delivering high-quality healthcare while keeping costs down. Nursing retention is also a significant issue that health authorities must grapple with when faced with competition for those same services in other jurisdictions. Health ministries are also dealing with expediting the recognition of international nursing credentials while not compromising Canadian standards. Governments and healthcare authorities should not always prioritize high-cost unionized nurses because it is government union labour. There are many public sector union bosses pulling down six-figure salaries that would love for the government to throttle their competition.
The new year should be a time for the Manitoba government to reflect on service delivery in all areas of public service, not just in nursing or healthcare. The government – in consultation with unions and other stakeholders – should give all models of delivery equal consideration. Manitobans deserve no less.
Joseph Quesnel is a Senior Research fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy
