City of Winnipeg, province close to ending 5-year-old ambulance-funding dispute: report

The City of Winnipeg and the provinceare close to ending a five-year-old dispute over funding forambulances and paramedics.

A new report to city council's finance committee says the city and Manitoba Shared Health have a tentative deal to end an ambulance-funding dispute that started in 2017, when then premier Brian Pallister's Progressive Conservative governmenteffectively froze ambulance funding at 2016 levels.

Since then, the city has complained it has been forced to cover salary hikes, fuel price increases and other incremental costs on its own.

In an update on provincial grants to the city, Winnipeg finance officials say the city and Shared Health have negotiated a contract that includes "longer-term commitment" to ambulance serviceand funding on a cost-recovery basis.

"A contract is currently moving through review processes within both the City of Winnipeg and Shared Health, with an expectation that an agreement will be available for signing by the end of the first quarter of 2022," the report states.

The city's first quarter ends on March 31.

City council finance chair Scott Gillingham(St. James) welcomed the report.

"I've been calling for a new ambulance contract that reflects full cost recovery since the previous agreement expired more than five years ago," he said in a statement Friday.

"Winnipeg taxpayers should not be subsidizing health care through their property taxes."

Shared Health declined comment until the agreement is finalized.