The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP) is calling on the provincial government to fully fund paramedic positions after obtaining information showing a decline in the number of paramedics available to respond to emergency calls in rural Manitoba.
The decline covers a two-year period. It shows 519 rural paramedics as of December 2023 and 485 paramedics as of December 2025, a net loss of 34 province-wide.
Figures provided by the government in November 2025 initially claimed a net gain of 231 but corrected that figure to 18 net new paramedics, said MAHCP during an April 23 press conference. Manitobans are “tired of the numbers game” and expect the government to address the paramedic staffing crisis in rural Manitoba.
“Government has repeatedly committed — to Manitobans and to paramedics — that they’ll fix this crisis,” said MAHCP president Jason Linklater. “They have failed to retain paramedics where they are needed with more than 70 paramedics lost since October 2023, and they’re not educating or recruiting enough to fill the growing gaps. Manitobans are paying the price in longer waits for life-saving paramedic care.”
MAHCP is a union of more than 7,600 allied health professionals, including more than 500 paramedics. Paramedics in the Interlake-Eastern Regional Health Authority are hired by provincial Shared Health, which provides health services and operational support to the health system.
The province said in November 2025 it would be recruiting and training emergency medical responders (EMRs) to improve emergency services in rural communities. The province offered a $5,000 bursary to cover training costs in exchange for a one-year return-of-service agreement. About 50-60 EMRs are expected to graduate this fall, according to a provincial news release.
EMRs are not trained to a paramedic level.
MAHCP learned that funding for vacant primary care paramedic (PCP) positions will go to EMRs instead.
It said it received a recent letter from the government that “confirmed it is choosing not to hire qualified paramedics for some open PCP positions. Instead, Shared Health is using funding allocated for vacant PCP positions to hire emergency medical responders (EMRs)” which the government characterized as an “alternative level of care.”
MAHCP said it wants a fully funded allied health workforce plan, including significant retention, recruitment and educational initiatives for paramedics.
MAHCP has offered the government a number of paramedic recruitment and retention solutions. They include making more education seats accessible to rural students, offering “targeted bursaries” as provinces such as Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia do, creating a subsidized educational pathway for EMRs to become paramedics, posting all vacant paramedic positions, and creating incentives and covering travel and accommodation costs for shifts in hard-to-fill paramedic stations.
The Express reached out to Shared Health for comment. It responded to the query but didn’t provide answers by deadline.
The Paramedic Association of Manitoba said it was behind the NDP’s plan to add 200 more paramedics but expressed concern about the government “going backwards.”
“In the 2023 election, paramedics endorsed the NDP’s plan to add 200 more paramedics. The government has taken an important, long-overdue step by introducing advanced care paramedics in rural Manitoba but is also simultaneously going backwards by reducing the level of care in parts of the province,” said Rebecca Clifton, the association’s administrative director, during the news conference.
“Paramedics are incredibly disappointed by Shared Health’s restrictive hiring practices, which have frustrated both existing and new paramedics, while vacancies continue to climb. Paramedics want government to keep their promise, but this damage will be incredibly difficult to recover from without rapid engagement and government support.”
