Tories deny opposition accusations that premier misled Manitobans on ICU patient transfers

Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government says Premier Heather Stefanson, who was health minister at the time, didn't know COVID-19 patients were set to be transferred out of province last May, while she was suggesting publicly Manitoba could handle a surge in cases.

The Manitoba NDP is accusing the premier of misleading Manitobans about ICU patient transfers during her time as health minister, saying a calendar from a top health official shows Manitoba was making transfer plans days before her comments.

“Which day did the premier find out about the plan to move ICU patients out of province," NDP leader Wab Kinew said Tuesday.

In turn, the PCs said the NDP is making up stories, with Manitoba's current health minister Audrey Gordon calling them, "baseless accusations of the opposition."

According to the calendar obtained by the NDP, Shared Health CEO Adam Topp had a meeting on May 13, 2021. The meeting was described as a discussion on Thunder Bay Hospital ICU capacity.

Five days later on May 18, as ICU numbers hit record levels, then Health Minister Stefanson said the province could stretch its ICU capacity by moving around staff to handle any influx of patients.

“If we have to redeploy staff, then we’ll redeploy staff to ensure that we handle the capacity," Stefanson said on May 18.

But on that same day, Manitoba started moving patients to Thunder Bay.

“What we’re pointing out is that the premier was aware of the plan to move patients out of our ICUs and to Ontario," Kinew said.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon, on behalf of the premier who was not in the House Tuesday, said this was "completely false."

She said Stefanson was never briefed about the transfer plan, and a timeline submitted by Shared Health shows the conversations about transferring patients were between health officials in Manitoba and Ontario only.

“Those decisions to transfer patients are clinical decisions. They’re being made by clinicians, and they are not being made here in the Manitoba Legislature," Gordon said.

Shared Health said between May 13 and 17, there were 34 COVID-19 patients admitted to Manitoba ICUs, pushing numbers to a record high. It was shortly after that two patients were transferred to Thunder Bay.