Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives cried foul Monday after an unknown number of staff at Shared Health were let go.
The provincial health-care organization said the employees worked in staff and talent acquisition. They attended career fairs and participated in online outreach efforts.
A Shared Health spokesperson said recruitment, retention and training resources from different areas of the organization were recently merged.
“As part of that initiative, some staff who focused primarily on attending career fairs and online outreach were impacted,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
Shared Health wouldn’t say how many people lost their jobs as a result, but the agency stressed that staff recruiting is still happening.
The consolidation was made public Monday after Progressive Conservatives health critic Kathleen Cook asked Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara about the cuts, which they had heard about from sources within Shared Health.
Cook said she was told the staff were responsible for recruiting medical specialists, but Shared Health said in a statement they weren’t.
Earlier, Asagwara told reporters the recent staffing changes at Shared Health were due to “historical projects” being completed.
“I did not give any direction for staff to be fired.… That was an internal decision made by them,” Asagwara said, deferring further questions to Shared Health.
But Cook slammed the health minister for “an astounding lack of accountability.”
Cook said Asagwara should be expected to know important comings and goings at Manitoba’s largest service delivery organization given a shortage of health-care workers in the province.
“I would expect a more robust answer about exactly what’s happened here,” Cook said.
It’s not clear what impact Shared Health’s changes around recruitment, retention and training have on the government’s own efforts to create an office focused on recruiting and retaining health-care workers, as announced in the 2024 budget.