Consulting firm tasked with recruiting 150 doctors to Manitoba brought in only two

A company hired by the previous PC government to recruit 150 new doctors to Manitoba only recruited two. CTV’s Danton Unger explains.

A plan to bring 150 new doctors to Manitoba has fallen flat, after the company hired to recruit the physicians brought just two doctors over two years.

It was launched by the former Progressive Conservative government in July 2023. Canadian Health Labs—a Toronto-based recruitment firm—was awarded the contract valued at up to $5.25 million.

The firm was tasked with recruiting 150 doctors to Manitoba who would be evenly split between Winnipeg, northern Manitoba, and rural communities.

At the time, then-Health Minister Audrey Gordon said she was confident the company would meet its target.

Two years in, the province confirmed just two doctors had been recruited—both from the U.K. and both working at clinics in Winnipeg.

“This was not a good deal for the Province of Manitoba,” Premier Wab Kinew told reporters Wednesday.

Kinew said the contract with Canadian Health Labs has now expired.

“We’re not renewing it, like we were looking at the clock waiting for this thing to expire,” he said.

The province said the Canadian Health Labs is only being paid between $25,000 and $45,000 per doctor recruited.

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said because the firm failed to meet its targets, it was paid the lowest fee possible under the agreement.

When asked if he was given an explanation as to why only two doctors were recruited over two years, Kinew said the PCs should explain.

PC Deputy Leader Jeff Bereza told CTV News in a written statement he felt the NDP didn’t try to keep the contract.

“This is yet another example of the NDP inheriting a successful PC program, and setting it up to fail. The contract with Canadian Health Lab was a viable recruitment tool,” the statement reads in part.

“It’s time for the NDP to stop blaming the PCs for their healthcare failures and start delivering on their election promises to Manitobans.”

The NDP has promised to bring 400 physicians to the province. Asagwara’s spokesperson said since being elected, 201 net new physicians are working in Manitoba with another 12 accepting offers.

This comes as Manitoba continues to see some of the worst doctor shortages in the country.

According to Doctors Manitoba, the province has 219 physicians per 100,000 residents, which makes us the second worst in doctors per capita in Canada.

When it comes to family physicians, Doctors Manitoba said the province is in dead last, with 107 doctors per 100,000 residents.

“We need to look at multiple initiatives and strategies to recruit physicians and not put all of our eggs in one basket,” said Dr. Nichelle Desilets, president of Doctors Manitoba.

She said she believes the best recruiters are the physicians themselves.

“I would argue that the best way to recruit physicians is to retain the physicians that you have,” she said. “Physicians who are happy, feel safe, feel fulfilled in their work… that gets promoted, and then other physicians hear about that.”

CTV News has reached out to Canadian Health Labs for comment and is awaiting a response.