Manitoba Health Coalition - MHC

01/12/2026

Just wrapped up a productive and inspiring day of strategic planning for MHC with our board, facilitated by Jackie Hogue.

Great opportunity to reflect on our values, mission, and priorities as a coalition fighting to strengthen and improve public health care for all Manitobans.

01/10/2026

A new study from McGill researchers (Panagiotoglou et al 2025) has provided more evidence that supervised consumption sites do not increase crime or reduce safety in surrounding neighbourhoods. Harm reduction and supervised consumption help make everyone safer, with sites having a neutral or even positive effect on local crime statistics.

We must follow the evidence and treat the opioid crisis with the urgency it deserves in Manitoba.

01/07/2026

Privatization by stealth occurs in many ways within our public health care systems across Canada.

For Manitoba, reliance on private, for-profit agencies to fill staffing vaccines in the public system is one of the most significant forms of this phenomenon.

This practice funnels public dollars into private, for profit companies.

In an encouraging step, the provincial government is reducing the number of private agencies they will work with to fill vacant nursing shifts from almost 80 down to just four.

While encouraging, this shift has the potential to merely consolidate privatization rather than meaningfully combatting it in Manitoba if further action is not taken.

At MHC, we want to keep profit out of health care and believe public dollars should be used to strengthen our public system, not pad the profit margins of private companies.

Let’s keep working for a fully public and accessible health care system all across Manitoba.

01/03/2026

Because of Manitoba’s participation in the expanded federal Pharmacare program, over 53,000 Manitobans were able to access publicly funded birth control in the past year.

Between October 2024 and October 2025, 190,000 publicly funded prescriptions were dispensed in Manitoba.

These numbers show that there is a real need for this program in our province. Expanded access to publicly funded prescription drugs is needed across Canada.

MHC supports the expansion of Pharmacare into a truly universal, national part of our public health care system. We are working to build a public health care system that everyone can access without fear or financial penalty.

12/22/2025

2025 has been an important and exciting time of rebuilding for the Manitoba Health Coalition.

Since I started in April, we’ve created important new initiatives like the Indigenous Health Committee to help steer our approach to addressing and closing Indigenous health gaps. As part of this work, I co-authored a piece with Michael Redhead Champagne for CCPA Manitoba about addressing structural racism in Manitoba health care. We are committed to addressing discrimination and other barriers to care in all our work as a Coalition.

Outreach is another cornerstone of MHC’s approach. Having conversations with Manitobans about their experiences accessing or delivering health care is essential to my work. Our public health care system always needs more defenders, and at MHC, we’re always looking to expand our Coalition to include new voices and perspectives.

Engaging in collaborative research, participating in rallies and community events, delivering presentations, attending workshops, and sharing our message in support of public health care in the media are just some of the other activities that have kept me busy and inspired as provincial director this year.

As I look ahead to 2026, I am excited for what our movement can achieve as we work together to defend and expand our public health care system across Manitoba.

12/19/2025

According to Doctors Manitoba, only 18 of Manitoba’s 71 rural and northern ERs are expected to be reliably open 24-7 over the holidays. As with summer closures, closed ERs and limited holiday hours are becoming routine in rural and northern Manitoba.

Progress is being made to address the shortage of physicians across our province, with a record increase of 164 this year. Despite these gains, Manitoba ranks seventh in terms of physicians per capita, according to the latest CIHI data.

Investment in public health care, including recruiting and retaining physicians, must expand. We need to build a system that works for all Manitobans and provides reliable emergency care available 24/7 in all our communities.

12/17/2025

Health Coalitions demand.

https://mbhealthcoalition.ca/health-coalitions-demand-action-albertas-bill-11-threatens-public-health-care-for-all-canadians/ -5129

12/17/2025

Tune in today to learn more about the attacks on public health care happening in Alberta and what this means for the rest of Canada.

Tmrw (Wed, Dec 17) at 12 p.m. noon:
Go to our page to watch Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra provide a quick, urgent briefing on what is happening, the facts vs the most common myths, and how we can combat the highly orchestrated pro-privatization propaganda campaign.

The threat against Public Medicare in Canada is at an all-time high. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith's new legislation, which was passed last week, brings in private health insurance and two-tier medicare. Doug Ford is bringing in two-tier medicare and private hospitals, after already pushing forward with long-term care privatization and private for-profit blood services. An array of organizations that are working to dismantle and privatize public health care in Canada are campaigning in the media and on social media. At every turn, we are finding media stories, op eds, reports and initiatives spreading misinformation about privatization and pushing for more privatization.

Ontario Health Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra has led the seminal research on private clinics and two-tier health care across the country. For decades, she has researched the forces pushing privatization and their methods. She is a leading expert on this topic and many others.

12/16/2025

The expert panel convened by Health Canada unanimously recommended scaling up safer supply - including community-based programs and compassion clubs.
Instead of acting, Health Canada ignored the advice and pulled back support, contributing to the weakening and closure of safer supply programs across the country.

We’re asking:
❓ Why did the government ignore expert recommendations?
❓ Why have the recommendations still not been implemented?

Read our joint statement with Canadian Drug Policy Coalition & HIV Legal Network and join us in demanding transparency and action.

https://www.momsstoptheharm.com/actions/2025/12/15/request-for-meeting-re-health-canadas-safer-supply-expert-advisory-group-recommendations

12/16/2025

MHC stands with health coalitions across the country in our opposition to Alberta’s Bill 11 and joins them in calling on the federal government to enforce the Canada Health Act.

In an open letter to the Prime Minister and Health Minister, Health Coalitions representing over three million Canadians call on the federal government to intervene in the face of two-tier Medicare being brought in by Alberta's Bill 11.

Read the open letter: https://www.friendsofmedicare.org/uphold_thecanadahealthact

Defenders of universal public health care are calling upon the federal government to uphold the Canada Health Act.

Take action here: https://www.healthcoalition.ca/albertas-two-tier-health-care-law-threatens-us-all/

12/16/2025

Rebuilding public health care requires ongoing, substantive investment.

In a time of rising inequality and an ongoing affordability crisis, Manitobans deserve a government that invests in public solutions in health care, housing, education, and other social supports.

Manitoba cannot afford more privatization and austerity.

Read more of MHC’s response to the latest provincial fiscal update on our website:

https://mbhealthcoalition.ca/manitoba-fiscal-update-mhc-response/ -5119

12/12/2025

The creation of two-tier health care in Alberta is a threat to all provincial public health care systems. Let’s work together to keep profit out of health care.

Alberta has passed Bill 11 (Health Statutes Amendment Act 2025 No.2), legislation that allows doctors to charge unlimited fees at for-profit clinics for medically necessary procedures while also working in the public system. This American-style approach opens our health care to private insurance cor...