Flin Flon MLA Tom Lindsey says the Pallister government’s cuts to the rural doctor recruitment program will make it more difficult for rural and northern families to get the high-quality health care they deserve. He says the Pallister government has eliminated a grant program and tax rebates that helped attract doctors to rural and northern Manitoba.

Lindsey explains the grant program was established by the former NDP government in 2001 and helped medical students pay off their tuition fees if they practiced in Manitoba after graduation. In the 2015/16 school year, 217 students across Manitoba received a total of 4 million dollars in conditional grants. In addition he adds the tuition fee income tax rebate provided up to 25,000 dollars to students committed to working in Manitoba.

Lindsey says this latest cut comes on the heels of an order to the Northern Health Region from the health minister to cut 6 million dollars from its budget which is a huge blow to frontline services.