Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - February 6, 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba Free PressSERVING MANITOBA SINCE 1872. FOREVER WITH YOUR SUPPORT. THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2025Heads of two largest health authorities sacked Audits uncover years of deficits, problems with workplace culture MAGGIE MACINTOSH T ^ HE leaders of Manitoba’s two largest health authorities have been removed after financial audits determined repeated deficits in the last few years hindered their ability “to make the best decisions for patient care.” On Wednesday, Manitoba Health published 333 pages of reports that analyzed service delivery, budgeting and fiscal management practices of all provincial health authorities, except for Southern Health. “If the disease in our health-care system is a culture of dysfunction, then the symptom of that disease is fiscal mismanagement,” Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said during a news conference at the legislature. Southern Health, which Asagwara described as having “a great culture” and history of staying out of the red, is the sole entity that was excluded from the reviews of spending between 201920 and 2023-24. The region’s longtime chief executive officer, Jane Curtis, has been tapped to lead the Winnipeg Region- al Health Authority on an interim basis. Asagwara described her as an emotionally intelligent manager. She replaces Mike Nader, who was given the job in April 2021. Dana Human, lead of community and continuing care at Southern Health, will serve as acting commander-in-chief while its board of directors searches for a new executive. Dr. Chris Christodoulou was named the new CEO of Shared Health. He replaced Lanette Siragusa, who became CEO in May 2023, a controversial move because she remained vice-dean of education at the University of Manitoba Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, albeit in a reduced role. The flurry of change was announced minutes before the provincial audits were made public. “You can’t help but wonder if these new faces are really going to have the power and the resources to make a real change,” said Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union. Jackson said nurses have reported daily concerns about the government’s yet-to-be-fulfilled promise to create a cultural shift in health care. For the union leader, that begins at the top with CEOs who are both empowered to make whatever change necessary and equipped with enough resources to do so. Last year, the province commissioned two firms to undertake comprehensive reviews of Shared Health and all but one of its regional health authorities that have grappled with rising wages and other inflationary pressures. The government spent about $380,000 and $237,000 on its respective contracts with Deloitte and MNP. • AUDITS, CONTINUED ON A2 KATY KILDEE / THE DETROIT NEWS AMERICA ERUPTS IN ANTI-TRUMP PROTESTS From the steps of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing, Mich. (shown), to streets and capitols across the U.S., thousands of demonstrators protest Wednesday against President Donald Trump's immigration, trade and education policies and billionaire Elon Musk’s takeover of sensitive taxpayer data. See story on Page A8. Accused took man into bush 'to murder him’: witness DEAN PRITCHARD ONCE a co-accused in the violent killing of a man she considered a friend, Janine Atkinson no longer has a possible life sentence hanging over her head. On Monday, Atkinson was in a Winnipeg courtroom telling jurors how Aaron Mousseau Abigosis came to murder Bud Paul at the end of a dark, remote Manitoba road more than four years ago. Atkinson, who has a lengthy criminal record and is currently serving a 7 1/2-year prison sentence for shooting a man, has been granted immunity from prosecution in return for her testimony against Abigosis. King’s Bench Justice Sarah Inness told jurors they will have to carefully assess Atkinson’s evidence, given her own criminal history and possible motivation to lie. “Experience teaches us that testimony from Crown witnesses of this kind in these circumstances must be approached with the greatest degree of care and caution,” Inness said. Fifty-six-year-old Bud Paul’s decomposed remains were discovered Aug. 11, 2020, in a stand of willows, off a dead-end road just outside the northern edge of Roseau River Anishinabe First Nation. Abigosis has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. Prosecutors allege Abigosis killed Paul on Aug. 3. Paul was beaten and slashed in the abdomen with what prosecutors have described as a bush axe. Paul’s burned-out vehicle was found on Queen Street, near Polo Park mall on Aug. 10. Atkinson testified she met Paul over Facebook in mid-July and then in person for the first time roughly two weeks later. “He was looking for companionship,” she said. “We would just drive around, hang out.” On July 31, Atkinson and Abigosis, whom she had met earlier that same summer, spent the night with Paul, watching movies at his Hespeler Avenue apartment. The next morning, Paul agreed to drive Abigosis and Atkinson to Pine Creek First Nation, where Abigosis wanted to pick up a cheque from his mother, Atkinson told court. Atkinson said they stopped at Long Plain First Nation, near Portage la Prairie, where Abigosis visited a few houses “to get high.” By 4:45 p.m., the trio was in Neepa-wa, where security cameras captured Atkinson purchasing a bottle of vodka at a liquor store. Security video showed Abigosis behind the wheel and Paul in the backseat when they drove out of the parking lot. Atkinson said she had been using cocaine during the road trip and described herself at times being “really intoxicated.” • TRIAL, CONTINUED ON A2 Diversifying exports, in-Canada trade on table PM to host trade summit on Trump threats KYLE DUGGAN OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will host a Canada-U.S. economic summit in Toronto on Friday, days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would hold off on deploying tariffs against Canada for a month. “We want businesses, investors and workers to choose Canada,” Trudeau said in a news release. The Prime Minister’s Office said the pause on tariffs presents an important opportunity to build a long-term prosperity agenda for Canada. The event will assemble Canadian trade and business leaders and representatives of organized labour to discuss strategies to expand the economy, break down internal trade barriers and diversify exports. It will also feature members of the Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, formed earlier this year to advise Trudeau on bilateral relations and Trump’s tariff threat. Trudeau held a virtual meeting with the premiers Wednesday to discuss the federal government’s response to the tariff threat. Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford said they talked about how to knock down interprovincial trade barriers, expedite permits for resource development and secure the border. “I’ve asked the federal government, who is the czar when it comes to drugs overall, especially fentanyl?” Ford said at a campaign stop in Pickering, Ont. Trump signed an executive order on Saturday to impose 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs on all Mexican and Canadian imports, with a lower 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy. The president linked the duties to what he called the illegal flow of people and fentanyl across the borders. • SUMMIT, CONTINUED ON A2 WEATHER FLURRIES. HIGH -13 — LOW -21 COMMUNITY SWIM WITH ME TEACHES ESSENTIAL WATER SKILLS ;