Manitoba must not let government nursing unions throttle their competition
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As 2025 begins, Manitobans must remind their government to prioritize the health care of its citizens above all other interests.
One crucial step is allowing private nurses to supplement the public system effectively.
In December, Manitoba banned signing new contracts with private nursing agencies. While this practice had already stopped months earlier, the province stated it would stop any new contracts ostensibly to provide stricter oversight over the practice. The province will request proposals if agencies wish to practice in Manitoba.
Currently, Manitoba’s public health providers have hundreds of contracts with over 70 private nursing agencies. Setting basic guidelines for these contracts is reasonable, but the growing resistance to private-sector involvement reflects the influence of public-sector unions.
Manitoba must signal its intention to fully embrace private nursing agencies. This would demonstrate a commitment to flexible and innovative health care delivery in 2025 and beyond, ensuring that Manitobans can access high-quality care without delay.
 It’s time for Manitoba to embrace flexible health care solutions. |
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The Manitoba Nurses Union has consistently opposed competition, aligning its priorities with the public system. Like other public-sector unions, it views for-profit agencies as a threat to public care and treats the use of private and public workers as a zero-sum game. This perspective assumes that private workers always come at the expense of the public system, leaving little room for collaboration or creative solutions.
Despite these concerns, this mindset is unique to Canada. Many universal health care systems worldwide, including Australia and the United Kingdom, successfully integrate private nursing agencies to fill staffing gaps while maintaining their universal health care systems. Manitoba could draw lessons from these countries, where collaboration between the private and public sectors strengthens health care delivery without undermining public health care.
Health authorities in other provinces have called for greater regulation of private agencies as their use becomes more widespread. Regulation is essential to ensuring accountability and quality care, but it must not become a tool for unions to stifle competition or preserve their own influence. Instead, regulations should create fair and transparent standards, allowing public, not-for-profit, and for-profit models to coexist.
Manitoba should ensure private nursing agencies deliver quality, affordable care, as they are funded through the public purse. However, governments must resist the influence of union leaders, some of whom earn six-figure salaries, who would prefer to throttle competition and preserve their dominance.
Staff retention is another pressing challenge. Manitoba faces competition for nurses from other jurisdictions, both within Canada and abroad, as health authorities attempt to attract and retain skilled workers. Expediting credential recognition for international nurses complements the effort to integrate private agencies, ensuring Manitoba can meet its staffing needs without compromising standards. Governments must also ensure they are not defaulting to high-cost, unionized labour solely due to political pressure from public-sector unions.
The new year presents an opportunity for Manitoba to rethink how it delivers public services, not just in health care but across all sectors. By consulting unions and other stakeholders while giving equal consideration to all models of service delivery, the government can demonstrate that it is committed to serving the best interests of Manitobans.
Manitobans deserve a health care system that prioritizes flexibility, efficiency, and quality. The government must embrace innovative solutions that ensure every resident has access to timely and affordable care in 2025 and beyond.
Joseph Quesnel is a senior research fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.
Explore more on Manitoba health care, Manitoba politics, Health care reform, Kinew government
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