ELECTION 2019 POLITICAL PARTY PROMISES
We don't know about you but we find it hard to keep track of all the political party promises. So in an effort to keep us all organized we are providing information from political parties on released campaign promises as they relate to health care. We believe in the sanctity of the ballot box and believe every Manitoban must make their own decisions when it comes to voting for the candidate and party right for them. All information will be sourced and hyperlinked to allow you to get more information direct from the source - political parties, credible news source and official social media accounts of political parties and leaders.
If you see we have missed a campaign promise please accept our apologies for the oversight and feel free to email us at [email protected] Subject: Party Promise, in your email please let us know the promise we missed and if possible a link to the source information.
PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE PARTY
- Promise $2 billion in health care funding, both capital and operating, included in this promise a new $90 million ER at St.Boniface hospital.
- Promise $3.4 million to women's health aimed at eating disorder programs, a new midwifery program, UTI prescription expansion, breast cancer and trauma counseling.
- Would hire 200 nurses and 80 rural paramedics, establish a $40 million fund for innovative projects proposed by front-line workers.
How they plan to address meth addictions
- Safer Streets, Safer Lives Action Plan to address methamphetamine usage.
- Create a new acute medical sobering facility staffed with mental health professionals which can see 20-30 patients at a time.
- Open one additional Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine clinic in the Southern Region.
NEW DEMOCRATIC PARTY
- Reopen Seven Oaks and Concordia ERs.
- Hire more nurses and listen to frontline workers.
- No cuts to CancerCare and improve services for patients.
- Create Minister Responsible for Mental Health and Addictions, creating new community-based mental health services, doubling the number of counsellors in ACCESS centres, and examining how to fund some eligible mental health costs for families.
- Increase community-based health care, including better hours and train more Nurse Practitioners.
- Support for universal national Pharmacare and work with Federal government to lower drug costs.
- Reinstate the coverage for outpatient physiotherapy and sleep-apnea treatment and enhance Pharmacare program.
- Improving home care and stop efforts to privatize.
- Develop new province-wide pallative strategy and improve palliative care with better professional training.
- Supporting women's health through access to reproductive health care, offering free menstrual products in schools, rehiring lactation consultants, jobs for trained midwives.
- Better Northern health care through reinstating obstretical program in Flin Flon and Lifeflight, hiring more midwives in the north, and partner with Federal government on new-hospital level health centres in First Nations communities.
- Address social determinants of health by improving rent assist, improving EIA rates, eliminating the welfare wall, and striking a task force on basic income and dignified income for people with severe and prolonged disabilities.
- Reduce health care bureaucracy.
- Never introduce health care premiums.
- Free parking at hospitals (Aug14).
- Increase hours of ACCESS clinics to include weekend hours (Aug 18).
- Hire midwives, lactation consultants, and provide menstrual products in all schools (Aug. 22)
- Make mental health supports more accessible, via grants to organizations/counselors who provide free or bill sliding scale, increase counselors to ACCESS centres, team approach in schools for mental health support, and virtual counseling for post-secondary students. (Aug 27)
- Promise to not renew private home care contracts (Sept 1)
- Restore special drugs program (Sept 3)
- eliminate mandatory overtime for nurses (Sept 4)
How they plan to address meth addictions
- Implement the Main Street Project plan within 100 days of taking office to build detox, treatment and transitional housing beds.
- Commit $2 million annually in operating funding.
- Create a safe consumption site. One to open in Downtown (Aug 19)
MANITOBA LIBERAL PARTY
- Funding for hospitals - By starting slowly with 10% of hospital budgets moving to Patient-based funding model annually, the Manitoba Liberal approach will give government and hospitals the time to identify challenges and correct them before further changes are made.
- Shared Services and Regional Health Authorities will be taken over and merged with Manitoba Health, while local health care delivery in hospitals and clinics will be given greater autonomy and decision making.
- “Shared Health” will be moved to Manitoba Health, which will continue to be responsible for setting provincial policy, standards of practice, and bulk purchases of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for economies of scale.
- Provincial policy will still apply: all health care must conform to the Canada Health Act, and we will provide care based on need, not the ability to pay.
- Centralized and improved information networks will help to connect every community in Manitoba to quality health care.
- In order to ensure province-wide care, we will further develop Specialist Networks similar to CancerCare Manitoba. We will have networks for Brain and Mental Health, Heart health, Diabetes, Women’s Health and Indigenous Health.
- Seven Oaks, Concordia and Victoria Hospitals would all be able to choose to keep their ERs open — as doctors, communities and health care workers have requested. Concordia’s role as a specialist hospital for joint replacements depended on having an ER. The same is true for Seven Oaks specializing in renal (kidney) treatments.
- Reinstate and expand life-saving drugs program
- Mental health supports including covering clinical psychological therapy as part of medicare and invest in training mental-health professionals, pay for psychological assessments and treatments for children with learning and behavioural disabilities (Aug15)
- Improve wait times for hip and knee replacements (Aug18)
- Build a 24/7 virtual addictions co-ordination centre which would have a hotline and website available to any Manitoban at anytime (Aug.27)
- Look into increasing the capacity in Manitoba for treatment options for those struggling with mental health & addiction issues. (Aug. 27)
- Promise to sign on to national pharmacare program (Sept 4)
- Promise by end of first mandate no Manitoban would travel longer than 20 minutes to access health care services (Sept 5)
How they plan to address meth addictions
- Create a drug stabilization unit and provide transitional housing with mental health supports.
- Fund anti-gang and intervention programs using cannabis revenue.
- Create province wide public awareness campaign against meth.
GREEN PARTY
- Respect and support front line workers by eliminating mandatory overtime, reverse wage freeze legislation, increase number of health care practitioners,expand cross training opportunities.
- Increase the focus on preventative, community-based health care by implementing 'junk food' tax, allocate 2% of total health care spending to support best-practice preventative programs, work toward a cooperative health care models for communities.
- Expand health care coverage in Manitoba by providing dental and vision care for children under 12, negotiate universal pharmacare with federal government, provide funding for conception planning under Medicare and Pharmacare and ensure access to abortion services across the province, including non-surgical abortion options.
- Improve medical emergency medical services across Manitoba by ensuring no further ER closures, increase number of health practitioners and after hours non-urgent care, ensure emergency transport for rural and Northern MB, provide better support and coordination to municipalities for health professional recruitment and develop a provincial health human resources plan and increase utilization of technology to address needs of rural and Norther patients to reduce burden of long-distance travel.
- Provide increased services and support options for seniors by increasing capacity for housing and support options for seniors, support active living programming, increase investments in injury prevention, health promotion and chronic disease management.
- Provide increased services for individuals with disabilities and their families through reducing wait times for residential services for families with adult children with intellectual disabilities, increase availability of support services for children living with disabilities and establish an updated FASD strategy with a focus on enhancing prevention and intervention services.
- Increase support services for substance abuse and addictions by committing 10% of health funding for mental health supports and services funding , promote and facilitate easy access to effective mental health supports and services, increase initiatives to reduce stigma, expand mental health prevention and promotion initiatives with focus on healthy childhood development and early intervention, and ensure LGBTQ2S* individuals have access to appropriate and informed mental health services.
-Promised would move towards national pharmacare (Sept 5)
How they plan to address meth addictions
- Increase support services for substance abuse and addictions by increasing residential addictions treatment beds, implement an evidence-based meth response program that puts people's well being first, including promoting harm reduction by safe use sites, establishing protective care sites, hiring additional addictions counsellors and creating additional treatment spots, enhance effective, holistic community-based initiatives, increase initiatives to reduce stigma around substance abuse and addictions and expand awareness and prevention services related to substance abuse and addictions.
