It made the lack of additional funding for these facilities in Wednesday’s budget shocking.
For a document titled
Protecting Manitobans, Budget 2021, the province seems to have forgotten about the most vulnerable of our population.
This was an opportunity to cement the promise of the implementation of the 17 recommendations made by the report several of which called for more funding and more staffing.
To be fair, the budget does denote an increase of $9.3 million of funding to go to the increased operational costs for two facility expansions in Steinbach and Carman. But that eats up the lion’s share of the $10.1 million increase in funding to long-term care services.
Article content
Opposition parties are voicing concern over the province’s commitment to health and education in the 2021-2022 budget, which was released on Wednesday.
Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman, meanwhile, said the budget fell short of the city’s expectations.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
Try refreshing your browser, or Opposition parties cry foul on health, education spending in 2021 budget Back to video
In a press conference, NDP leader Wab Kinew said the province is providing less money “in real dollars” to help meet the bedside needs of Manitobans in medical care. He referenced a potential third pandemic wave, saying Manitoba does not have the hospital capacity to meet the needs of residents.