Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - August 3, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba LEASING FOR NEW AND USED VEHICLES SCAN THE QR CODE TO START SHOPPING OR CALL (204) 663-6185 A2 ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM NEWS SATURDAY, AUGUST 3, 2024 VOL 153 NO 223 Winnipeg Free Press est 1872 / Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 2024 Winnipeg Free Press, a division of FP Canadian Newspapers Limited Partnership. Published six days a week in print and always online at 1355 Mountain Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3B6, PH: 204-697-7000 CEO / MIKE POWER Editor / PAUL SAMYN Associate Editor Enterprise / SCOTT GIBBONS Associate Editor News / STACEY THIDRICKSON Associate Editor Digital News / WENDY SAWATZKY Director Photo and Multimedia / MIKE APORIUS NEWSMEDIA COUNCIL The Winnipeg Free Press is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent organization established to determine acceptable journalistic practices and ethical behaviour. 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The circulation and display advertising department will be closed. Regular office hours in all departments resume Tuesday. The Free Press and its employees wish you a safe and happy holiday. Scientist sounds alarm as heat drives people indoors; waste water shows virus alive and well Temperatures soar, COVID levels spike H IGH levels of COVID-19 in waste water, high temperatures driving Manitobans indoors and a low uptake for vaccination booster shots are leaving more people at risk of ser- ious illness, a Winnipeg epidemiologist warns. “It’s a high-risk situation,” Cynthia Carr said Friday, a day after the latest waste-water test- ing results showed high concentra- tions of the virus in south Winnipeg and the West End, and moderate lev- els for the prov- ince. “The virus is circulating, we’re get- ting together in closed spaces and we’re vulnerable because we’re not optimally protected,” said Carr, the head of EPI Research Inc. There were seven COVID-19-related deaths in the province, all people age 70 and older, the province’s surveillance report for the week of July 21-27 shows. Six COVID-19-related deaths were re- ported in a week the previous month. The average is zero to four deaths a week. “I want to express my condolences with the families of those who have passed away, and reiterate that our gov- ernment is managing our COVID-19 vaccination program with expert pub- lic health recommendations at the core of decision making,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara, who was unavailable for an interview, said in a prepared statement Friday. The province also reported 24 hospi- tal admissions, with three patients in intensive care, in its latest weekly sur- veillance update. “We’re communicating with phys- icians, pharmacists and health-care providers so they can give the best ad- vice to their patients, and I encourage any Manitoban who has questions about how to stay healthy to speak with their health provider,” the health minister’s statement said. The province is not planning to speed up the rollout of its planned fall COVID-19 vaccination campaign on the advice of chief public health officer, Dr. Brent Roussin. It’s sticking to its plan to wait until later this year, when a new and updated formulation of the vaccine will be offered with flu shots during respiratory virus season, Roussin told the Free Press Friday. “We will expect — just like last year — to see much higher transmission during the respiratory virus season, so the vaccine recommendations haven’t changed,” he said. Last year, Manitoba public health promoted getting the latest COVID-19 booster and the flu shot at the same time. The uptake on the COVID-19 fall booster dropped to 20 per cent of Mani- tobans from 25 per cent in 2022. And waiting a year for another COVID-19 booster may be too long for some, said Carr. “Research is showing that what mat- ters most is not the number of shots you’ve had but how recent your last shot was,” she said. “If it’s been five or six months since your last shot, you are not optimally protected. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already had five or six (shots). Unfortu- nately, we are still not at the stage like we are with other vaccine schedules, where you might have one shot or two shots and it’s lifelong or a very long per- iod of protection — like we would think of chicken pox or polio,” she said. Roussin said a vaccine program was promoted in the spring for those at higher risk of serious illness from COVID. “We made it clear to practitioners and to the public that we wanted people to get that in the early spring so they’ll have that six months duration after that shot,” he said, adding it will again be promoted in the fall. “We’ll have a really strong boost when we need it most in this upcoming flu season.” Roussin said there are vaccines avail- able now for people at higher risk who didn’t get a shot in the spring and have been advised to do so now. But he said most people who got both COVID and flu shots last fall should do so again. At the same time, he cautioned that the virus is showing that it’s not a sea- sonal illness, so people should be aware of the risks and take precautions. “There’s lots of things we can do that affect our health, that we have vari- ous levels of control over. Certainly, wearing a mask is an option,” he said. “(People will) need to assess their situ- ation and their level of risk tolerance. Things like washing hands frequently, staying home when sick — those are always going to be recommendations.” Carr said people may be sick of hear- ing about COVID, but the virus is alive and well. And with extreme summer heat, it has a captive audience similar to that in the dead of winter “We tend to congregate indoors, with air conditioning blowing and recircu- lating air,” she said. “When there’s events like concerts, getting together to watch the Olympics or other activities, we’re back in those situations of being close together — probably doing some of that cheering, which allows the virus to spread even better with those respiratory droplets in the air. Close proximity matters… those are high-risk situations.” carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca CAROL SANDERS Cynthia Carr MPI paid more than $10M in retroactive wages after strike AS MPI battles a $130-million loss and seeks a three per cent rate hike, recent figures show last year’s 10-week strike cost the Crown corporation more than $10 million in back pay. During the first-ever strike by union- ized MPI employees, the public insurer spent $1.2 million on consultants and $593,000 on replacement workers to maintain operations, according to the corporation’s July 5 general rate appli- cation. MPI spent $10 million in retroactive payment for unionized employees after a new contract was ratified on Nov. 1. “This could have all been avoided had the employer come to the table with a fair offer,” said Kyle Ross, president of the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union. Figures laid out in the MPI document show the corporation saved about $17 million in labour costs and another $7 million on other external costs during the strike, which lasted from August to November. MPI has applied to increase over- all vehicle insurance rates by three per cent, citing the need to address “a steady and prolonged rise in the cost of claims as well as the cost of labour, raw materials and technology.” In its 2023 annual report, MPI says the strike, along with a record number of hail claims just days before employ- ees walked off the job, resulted in a net loss of $130 million. An Aug. 24 a hail storm struck the northeastern part of Winnipeg, re- sulting in more than 15,000 claims, with more expected to come. Four days later, about 1,700 employ- ees walked out amid unsuccessful con- tract negotiations. Union workers returned to their posts on Nov. 3 after voting on a new collect- ive agreement, which included general wage increases of 13 per cent over four years, signing bonuses of $1,800 each, plus two weeks worth of “recognition pay” for the time spent on strike with no bargaining taking place because of the provincial election and government transition. Without the labour disruption, MPI would have spent $47.6 million on staff wages during the 10-week period, but instead spent $15.8 million in August, $3.2 million in September and $6 mil- lion in October on wages, overtime and replacement workers, for a total of $25.2 million. Ross called the fiscal report unfortu- nate. “Manitobans and these workers now have to face the cost of the strike,” he said. “There’s a lot of work that needs to get done to get that corporation back and running like they used to.” MPI spokesperson Kristy Rydz said the strike exacerbated backlogs creat- ed by the hail storm, including driver testing, adjusting and estimating ap- pointments, and the corporation is still working through it. Progressive Conservative MLA Doyle Piwniuk, the opposition critic for MPI, said he was blindsided by the fig- ures. During a committee meeting in March, MPI officials indicated there would be a financial surplus and, poten- tially, a fourth rebate sent to Manitoba drivers, said Piwniuk (Turtle Moun- tain). “Where’s the accountability here? How much did this strike really cost us?” he said. Piwniuk also claimed he wasn’t in- formed hail claims would dominate MPI’s finances. MPI CEO Satvir Jatana and board chair Carmen Nedohin were not avail- able for interviews Friday. Piwniuk said he has concerns about recovering the costs and how long it will take to clear the backlog, and about the corporation’s operations, overall. “Managing the backlog is important, but so is managing costs,” he said, add- ing he’s requesting a committee meet- ing with Justice Minister Matt Wiebe, who oversees MPI, and corporation of- ficials. In a statment, Wiebe’s office accused the former Tory government of mis- managing MPI, which led to the strike. The NDP deserves credit for now ad- dressing those issues, it said. “We replaced the board, resolved the strike with a fair deal and are working hard to get MPI back on track,” the statement said. “Affordability will always be our top priority for MPI. That’s why we have put in place new leadership, who have reached a new deal with employees and implemented a more streamlined management structure to better serve Manitobans.” A January organizational review found MPI was suffering from an ineffi- cient management structure affecting its bottom line, which led to the elimin- ation of 32 management positions. nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca NICOLE BUFFIE ;