You can’t rebuild health care without investing in allied health.
As Manitoba’s only union solely dedicated to representing highly specialized professional/ technical and paramedical allied health professionals, MAHCP has access to expert frontline insights into the areas of greatest need, which we shared with the provincial government during the pre-budget consultation phase:
Fund a new competitive contract for allied health:- Fund improvements to employee benefits, without passing the financial burden on to employees.
- Commit to an Allied Health Workforce Plan.
- Expand and promote training opportunities for high-demand allied health professions.
NOTE:
On March 19, the night before Budget 2025’s release, MAHCP ratified an agreement with more than 6,500 of our members.
Budget 2025 revolves around the theme of ‘building,’ with a commitment to rebuild health care. According to Finance Minister Adrien Sala in his Budget speech: “We will always take care of health care staff, so they can take the very best care of you.” MAHCP is looking to this government to uphold this promise as we work to implement newly-ratified contracts.
Budget 2025 health-care investments: Impacts on allied health
- More than $770 million in new funding for frontline health care staff across the province with the total Health, Seniors & Long-Term Care operating budget increasing 14.7% year over year, to $8.8 billion.
- Funding to regional health authorities increased 17.6% to $5.6 billion, which is more than double the previous year’s increase of 8.4%. Funding to Service Delivery Organizations (SDOs) by service area:
| Funding to Health Authorities | Year-over-year Increase |
|---|---|
| Acute Care Services (hospitals) | 18.8% |
| Long-Term Care Services (personal care homes) | 19.6% |
| Home Care Services | 20.1% |
| Community Health Services (community health agencies and community health services operated by the health authorities) | 0.4% |
| Emergency Response and Transport | 13.7% |
- The smallest increase (0.4%) to any health service area is in Community Health Services, which is concerning. Not only is this increase insufficient to account for negotiated wage increases and may lead to staffing cuts, it doesn’t attribute appropriate levels of funding to organizations and professionals doing essential frontline work. Community Health Agencies support our most vulnerable residents, and they’re integral to addressing our province’s growing social challenges.
- The Ministry of Housing, Addictions & Homelessness operating budget increased 8.5% year over year, to $734 million, with most of that going to housing, which is vitally important; however, comparatively little went to Mental Health and Addictions (MH&A). Once again, MAHCP is concerned because MH&A funding won’t likely be adequate to fund negotiated wage increases and may result in cuts to staff and services.
| Funding Area | Funding increase 2025/26 vs. 2024/25 |
|---|---|
| Treatment/recovery funding to external agencies | -0.4% |
| Mental health promotion and harm reduction to external agencies | 6.9% |
| Mental Health & Addiction Services to Service Delivery Organizations (SDO) | 2.7% |
| Mental Health promotion and harm reduction to SDOs | 0% |
MAHCP was pleased to see the addition of a dedicated Allied Health recruitment professional in the health-care recruitment and retention office, as well as funding commitments to increase system capacity and reduce wait times.
“It’s important to share with Manitobans that MAHCP’s membership absolutely appreciates this government’s health-care investments, but allied health staffing levels just aren’t sufficient to support new beds, new scanners, new ERs, and other program expansions in a sustainable way,” said Jason Linklater, MAHCP President.
Additional health-related budget highlights:
- Training:
- MAHCP has been calling for more training opportunities closer to home for rural and Northern Manitobans. In this Budget, we gained 20 new seats in the combined laboratory and X-ray technology program at Brandon’s Assiniboine Community College; 20 new seats in medical laboratory technology program; 32 paramedic seats in the North (16 at UCN and 16 new seats in Thompson, training seats which are sorely needed with Shared Health recently taking over EMS delivery in Thompson). We also gained 15 Occupational Therapy seats and 10 Physiotherapy seats at UM.
- MAHCP has been calling for more training opportunities closer to home for rural and Northern Manitobans. In this Budget, we gained 20 new seats in the combined laboratory and X-ray technology program at Brandon’s Assiniboine Community College; 20 new seats in medical laboratory technology program; 32 paramedic seats in the North (16 at UCN and 16 new seats in Thompson, training seats which are sorely needed with Shared Health recently taking over EMS delivery in Thompson). We also gained 15 Occupational Therapy seats and 10 Physiotherapy seats at UM.
- Program and infrastructure investments:
- Permanent funding for seven-day-a-week discharge services at Winnipeg, Brandon, Selkirk, and Steinbach acute care facilities
- New emergency rooms at the Victoria General and Eriksdale Hospitals
- $110 million for a new hospital in Neepawa
- $25 million to modernize the HSC Children’s ER and improve patient experience
- Three new personal care homes: Lac du Bonnet, Transcona, Arborg
- Health Care Centre of Excellence in downtown Winnipeg (Portage Place redevelopment) in partnership with Indigenous organizations, federal and municipal governments, and a trusted Manitoba developer to deliver culturally appropriate primary care, mental health, and community wellness supports
- $11.5 million for a new CancerCare Manitoba headquarters
- $10 million in funding for Women’s Health Clinic
- $4 million in annual funding for staffing and operating space to add 686 more hip and knee surgeries annually at the Selkirk Regional Health Centre
- New support for public funding of the Sleep Centre at Misericordia Health Centre after the previous government’s privatization agenda led to reduced services
- Expansion of orthopedic surgery capacity by opening a 5th operating room at the Concordia General Hospital
- $4.6 million to help lower the screening age for breast cancer to 40 and expand screening infrastructure, staffing and training, and mobile services
- Expanded MRI and CT scan appointments, including $3 million to bring a mobile MRI to The Pas and Thompson
- $1.1 million to create new positions for midwifery graduates
- $8.5 million to build-up intensive care bed capacity by permanently increasing the total number of fully funded critical care beds from 114 to 131: Increasing adult critical care beds capacity to 110 from 103, with additions at the Health Sciences Centre, Grace Hospital and St Boniface’s medical and cardiac units; Increasing pediatric critical care beds capacity to 21 from 11 with additions for pediatric critical and step-down beds
- $1.3 million to Shared Health (SH) to contract Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre of Winnipeg (AHWC), for the operation of the first Indigenous-led Supervised Consumption Site in Canada
- Enhancing staffing levels at Shared Health’s Crisis Response Centre
- $1.3 million to support wages and benefits for service providers that provide therapies including physical, occupational, speech and language therapies, and audiology services
“MAHCP looks forward to working with government on the development of a long overdue allied health workforce plan to increase staffing in specialized roles such as MRI, social work, paramedicine, and more. Allied health professionals are a vital part of the solution to bring down wait times and strengthen our system for the future.”
We hope MAHCP’s recently ratified new collective agreements represent the first step toward improving workplace culture and addressing health and safety concerns. MAHCP membership surveys conducted in 2024 revealed low morale, crushing workloads, and reports of chronically working short, while a national survey showed that Manitoba health professionals are the most likely to be considering retirement of all the provincial health workforces.
“This Budget is a step in the right direction for our health-care system, but Manitoba’s allied health sector is at a precarious tipping point. Our government needs to improve employee benefits and working conditions, design and roll out incentives, and address serious culture issues to encourage people to stay and to stay longer, while growing our own workforce with more training options right here at home,” said Linklater.