Manitoba's promised plastic health cards pushed to January: premier

The Manitoba government's plan to replace paper health cards with more durable and modern plastic ones is running a bit behind schedule.

Premier Wab Kinew has said on a few occasions, including in a social media video last month, that people would be able to start applying for the new cards in December.

He now says the process is to get underway in mid-January and that it was pushed back in part by the postal workers' strike.

"We had existing (paper) health cards going out the door, just kind of starting to pile up," Kinew said in an interview.

"We definitely respect the postal workers' right to strike, but we took that period to say, 'You know what, there's some other things we could do in terms of the technical roll out and preparing to fulfil everyone's new applications quickly."'

Kinew's government made plastic health cards a key promise in the spring budget, which touted the idea of replacing the paper ones that are susceptible to wear and tear. The plan is to also have a digital version that people could store on their smartphones.

The government highlighted the initiative by holding a contest on the design of the new cards. A photo of the northern lights was chosen over pictures of a polar bear or bison.

Kinew posted a video on Instagram last month and repeated that applications for the plastic cards would be ready in December.

 The total cost of the project remains unclear.

 The Canadian Press applied earlier this year for documents on the cost under the province's freedom of information law. The response was a series of emails with financial and other information blacked out because it was advice to cabinet or a government body.

The government's central communications branch said last week production details are being finalized, so a full cost is not yet available.

However, the estimated production cost per card is expected to be below $1.67, which was the cost of the province's COVID-19 vaccination cards, an official with the communications branch wrote in an email.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 23, 2024.