I was unable to attend the budget speech at the Manitoba Legislature today...I had to travel to Ottawa to attend meetings for PAC. Jodi Possia represented PAM in the legislative gallery, and I'm guessing that after the antics that took place before the budget was introduced (what should have been a 90 minute session lasted close to three hours) I should be happy Jodi agreed to attend!
Over the course of the past few years I have come to believe, rightly or wrongly, that what happens on Budget day really has nothing to do with setting government policy or direction for the upcoming year. Sure...there is a budget...and I expect that each government department is told how much money they can spend during the fiscal year. But for the most part, any major initiative outlined in the budget has already been announced in a much more public and politically acceptable venue. For example...before today's budget speech we already knew the government planned to build a new hospital in Selkirk, spend millions of dollars fixing provincial highways, put $3M into training and incentives for emergency physicians, add to medical diagnostic equipment outside of Winnipeg (and so on and so on)...because these initiatives had already all been announced. But still, every year as I sit down to listen to the Finance Minister outline government expenditures, I have that tingle of anticipation that suggests maybe this is the year. Maybe this year there will be an announcement that indicates a strong political will to invoke real change in EMS and health care in general. Wrong again.
I had hoped that funding for development of a PCP education program at Red River College would somehow be slipped into today's budget speech. I expected, at the very least, that there would be mention of the previously announced investment to build a new EMS facility is the St. Paul area, or that the government would continue with it's initiative to replace ambulances across the province on a six year cycle through the Fleet vehicle program. But unfortunately there was absolutely no mention of EMS in today's budget...not even within the context of further health care improvements.
And unfortunately (there's that word again) that's because there are still many within the political ranks, both provincial and municipal, that don't think paramedics belong in the health care arena. Putting more money into Manitoba's emergency medical services system is a divisive and contentious issue, regardless of how logical and necessary it may seem to us. If today's budget precedes a spring election call here in Manitoba, I would encourage you to ask the candidates running in your constituency where they stand on the issue of funding for EMS. There are elected officials out there who see the need for investment in pre-hospital initiatives and recognize the potential benefits associated with such change...they need to stand up and be heard. The others need to be educated.
PAM's reaction to the budget speech can be viewed on our web site.
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