FACT CHECK: McFadyen wants Interlake voters to forget PC Health Cuts and Canceled Projects

Today as Hugh McFadyen makes a health care promise in Eriksdale, he would like Interlake residents to forget the PC health care record when he was Gary Filmon’s Chief of Staff and Director of Policy.

Interlake residents will remember the cuts and canceled projects from when Mr. McFadyen was playing, in his words, “a central strategic role” on “health reform.”

FACTS:

The PCs cut funding for the Eriksdale Hospital by 15% in the late 1990s. The PC cuts also hit other health care facilities across the Interlake, including:

• a 25% cut to the Gimli Hospital;
• a 29% cut to the Selkirk Hospital;
• a 28% cut to the Stonewall Hospital;
• a 24% cut to the Teulon Hospital; and
• a 16% cut to the Arborg Hospital.

Source: Manitoba Health Annual Reports, 1993-1998

In 1996, the PCs froze health capital projects in rural Manitoba, breaking their 1995 election promise: “The Filmon government will continue substantial levels of capital investment in assets such as highways, health care facilities, education and training institutions and the information highway.”

Source: Province of Manitoba news release, Jan. 25, 1996; and “Gary Filmon’s Plan Manitoba: A Vision for the Future,” 1995.

Mr. McFadyen’s vote just last year to cut half a billion dollars from the budget would only have continued the PC tradition of health care cuts and cancelled projects.

Source: Legislative Assembly Debates, June 17, 2010.

When it comes to health care, Hugh McFadyen and the PCs are simply too big a risk for Manitoba families.