Winnipeg’s council finance chair says ambulances should be provincial responsibility

At least one city councillor says Winnipeg should hand ambulance services over to the province to manage.

Scott Gillingham, councillor for St. James-Brooklands-Weston, told Global News Monday that since the Pallister government has decided to freeze funding for the service and “dishonour” the working agreement that the city has had with the province over the past several years, that perhaps they should be fully responsible for ambulances.

READ MORE: Province freezing Winnipeg ambulance funding: Mayor Brian Bowman

“Health care is the responsibility of the province, and ambulance services are a critical part of the health care service and so, therefore, ambulance services should be provided by the Province of Manitoba,” Gillingham said.

“My view is that the citizens of Winnipeg shouldn’t be on the hook for unilateral changes that the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has made to funding levels.”

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Gillingham plans to present a motion to the city’s executive policy committee on Wednesday asking the public service to come up with a detailed plan to ‘devolve the provision of ambulance services to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’.

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He said the essence of the motion is to look at handing the responsibility for health care service to the province.

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The city cried foul on Nov. 29 and made public a letter it had received from the province a week earlier in which the WRHA notified it was freezing ambulance funding at 2016 levels.

Gillingham said the city had no advance notice given about the decision to freeze ambulance funding, and that the city had been seeking clarification on numbers prior to issuing their draft budget Nov. 22.

“Our CAO Doug MacNeil sent a letter in July of this year asking for clarity on 2017 funding levels,” Gillingham said, adding that the province decided to issue its letter on Nov. 22, which was the same day that the city presented their budget.

“The city has been operating under the assumption that the terms of our agreement would be remaining in place. “

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The city has a month remaining in their fiscal year.

READ MORE: City reshuffles Winnipeg ambulances

Gillingham said they’ve been doing their part to control expenses and have not yet determined where the money will come from to cover the anticipated shortfall of up to $6 million.

Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen expressed his frustration with the city’s comments Monday, questioning the fact they have come out through the media and not face to face.

He said he hopes the province and the city can sit down and discuss the issue — along with many others — in the coming days.