Manitoba Elects First Nations Premier Following Promises For More Healthcare Workers
Manitoba made history last week by electing Canada’s first First Nations leader. On October 3, Wab Kinew, the leader of Manitoba’s NDP, was elected to succeed Conservative Premier Heather Stefanson. He is a former rapper, novelist, and journalist who served as the University of Winnipeg’s first director of Indigenous inclusion. In 2017, he was elected leader of the Manitoba NDP. Despite his unprecedented victory as a First Nations premier, Kinew is widely regarded to have won the race due to highly detailed promises to enhance the provincial healthcare system. To keep these pledges, Manitoba will most likely require additional newcomers to fill open positions. Kinew, for example, has committed to hire 300 nurses and 400 physicians over the next four years and to form a task force to oversee a recruitment campaign. He has also promised to hire 200 paramedics by the end of his first term, to expedite accreditation for globally educated health professionals, and to restore health covera