Manitoba health leaders nervously await effects of Trump tariffs By: Carol Sanders Posted: 6:57 PM CDT Monday, Mar. 31, 2025

Manitoba health leaders are bracing for the imposition of sweeping U.S. tariffs Wednesday that are expected to have a significant effect on the delivery of services by the province’s already-overwhelmed system.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, Manitoba Nurses Union president Darlene Jackson and Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Randy Guzman have, over the past few days, raised concerns about what President Donald Trump’s punishing economic measures are going to do to patients here and the people who look after them.

“Trump tariffs, are… going to have a very real impact on health care and the infrastructure of health care across the country and certainly… in Manitoba,” Asagwara told a Canadian Medical Association conference in Ottawa Thursday.

“Trump tariffs are… going to have a very real impact on health care and the infrastructure of health care across the country and certainly… in Manitoba.”–Uzoma Asagwara

Back in Winnipeg Monday, Asagwara said it’s wait and see until the promised 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports become a reality.

“As we have a better sense of what the tariffs look like, our government will have more to say in terms of what the gravity of the challenge is and how we will respond,” the minister told the Free Press.

“Right now, we’re making sure that Manitobans have the care that they need and we are ensuring that the message of ‘buying in Manitoba, buying Canadian and then looking elsewhere’ is the approach that we need to take.”

Jackson is harbouring fears that a trade war crippling Canada’s economy could result in health-care funding cuts.

“The possibility is we could see a huge recession in Canada and Manitoba and, if that happens, my concern is are we going to start seeing funding decreases in our public health-care system?” she said Monday.

“Are we going to see more and more directions to employers to cut more out of the health-care system, to cut more dollars? Because nurses are already working short-staffed with incredibly heavy patient loads,” she said.

Funding cuts would be “disastrous” to the public health-care system, leading to more privatization that will end up costing taxpayers more, she said.

She said she’s urging the province to make sure it buys as many Canadian-made products as possible.

“Are we going to see more and more directions to employers to cut more out of the health-care system, to cut more dollars?”–Darlene Jackson

That’s what physicians-advocacy organization Doctors Manitoba is recommending, after a Feb. 25 survey of more than 1,400 of its members found that 95 per cent are concerned about the economic uncertainty arising from threats south of the border; procuring medical supplies and devices were on the list of their concerns.

“Buy Canadian whenever possible,” president Guzman said Monday.

The tariffs’ potential impact on patient well-being and public funding for health care were even higher on the doctors’ list.

Guzman said there is a potential “positive” outcome for Canada in Trump’s policies.

“The chill that has been created in the medical field by this U.S. administration, including very restrictive policies, may actually have a net positive effect on Canada,” he said.

“We know some American physicians are looking for more positive, evidence-based environments in which to practise. No physician wants politicians getting in between them and their patients.”

Asagwara said the province, which is already recruiting professionals, will also roll out the welcome mat for researchers.

“If you’re a health-care researcher in the United States who has had a grant ripped away from you or hundreds of millions of dollars of research opportunities suddenly disappeared overnight, our government is here to welcome you to our health-care workforce, to use science and evidence and data to inform how we make health care better for Manitobans,” Asagwara said, adding steps have been taken to increase training seats at post-secondary institutions.

“We know some American physicians are looking for more positive, evidence-based environments in which to practise.”–Dr. Randy Guzman

“In order to train health-care students, you need the experts in the classrooms, in the lecture halls, on the front lines of health-care training and educating the health-care workers of tomorrow,” the minister said.

Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook said the provincial budget does not address the potential impact of U.S. tariffs on Manitoba’s health care system.

“It’s telling that the minister raised concerns about U.S. tariffs at a summit in Ottawa — but failed to address them in their own budget,” Cook said in an email. “The NDP’s budget provided zero built-in contingency for the impact of U.S. tariffs on Manitoba’s health-care system. Now, they are scrambling to appear responsive to an issue they chose to ignore.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca