While in Thompson last week Kinew spoke to Arctic Radio about how funding cuts made by the Progressive Conservative government a few years back lead to over-burdened, understaffed health care facilities during the pandemic.

 He said Thompson and the north have been hit particularly hard with staffing shortages noting in Thompson 11 million dollars last year on agency nurses, that’s basically just a symptom of the fact that they don’t have the staff necessary to work here.  He added we saw closures in the communities like Leaf Rapids and Gillam over the holidays and we’ve seen other signs of strain.

Last year’s cost for agency nurses was double that of 2019.  

Kinew said he and the NDP want the province to provide a timetable for when and how they plan to tackle the backlog of surgeries and diagnostic tests.  

According to Kinew that number is sitting at around 160-thousand procedures.