U of M pulled plug on midwifery program, education minister says

Education Minister Ian Wishartis pinning blame for the uncertainty overManitoba'smidwifery program on the University of Manitoba, one of the two educational institutions involved in the new joint venture.

"By this spring, when we needed to look at renewal of the program, one of the players had decided not to participate in the program," saidWishartin an interview with CBC Manitoba's Information Radio.

Afour-year bachelor of midwifery program was scheduled to be jointly offered by the University College of the North and the University of Manitoba starting this September. Prior to that, UCN offered the program.

Wishartdid not outright name the University of Manitoba, but suggested the institutionwould probably confirm they were the one.

"They were concerned, I think, about the long-term sustainability of the program," said Wishart.

University of Manitoba officials would neither confirm nor deny the minister's comments.

"The Universityof Manitoba remains engaged in the conversation around offering a midwifery program in Manitoba," said John Danakas, the university's executive director of public affairs, in an emailed statement.

Danakas said the university was "party to a proposal for a joint program in midwifery with University College of the North that was not funded."

Meanwhile, UCN officials said they weren't the party that refused to participate.

"UCN did not at any time withdraw its support in the lead up to the decision to not fund the program," UCN said in a statement."UCN fully supported delivering midwifery education in partnership with the University of Manitoba up until the 2016 provincial budget decision."

The reason for the midwifery program's demise has been mired in confusion.

University officials and midwives pointed to a lack of provincial funding in the budgetas the culprit.

Last week, the education minister said the primary reason for the cancellation of the joint UCN-University of Manitoba bachelor of midwifery degreewas a lack of accreditation for the new joint program. The College of Midwives denied this, saying that they did approve the latest midwifery program that was presented to them.

Next steps

In Wishart's interview with CBC's Information Radio, he acknowledged that the provincial midwifery college did approve the joint program, but once one of the partners withdrew their commitment, there was no longer a viable program on the table for approval.

Ultimately, Wishart said the issue comes down to the effectiveness of the program, noting that over the past decade only nine midwives graduated from the previous midwifery program.

"At over $8million dollars for ninegraduates, that's a very expensive program when you start comparing it to other jurisdictions," he said.

Wishart said the new Progressive Conservative government is committed to supporting midwives in Manitoba, adding the party put the College in Midwives into place.

The education minister said he hopes to provide a short-term solution to the 14 students who signed up for the midwifery program while work continues on a long-term plan.

"The fall's coming up and they need to know what they might have in terms of options," saidWishart. "We're hoping to get something on that very quickly. In terms of longer term programs, there's a little more time in regards of thatand certainly we'll be looking at all the options that are available."

"We're attempting to find a long term solution but we have had 10years here where the program has struggled to get off the ground. We think we need to step back and take a very careful look at it."