WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, a day after his government intervened to end a medical workers strike, called out their employer and suggested he may de-privatize lab testing. "Dynacare sucks. Dynacare sucks," Kinew repeated numerous times Wednesday when asked by reporters about the one-day walkout by 350 Dynacare lab technicians and technologists. "The workers are frustrated. Absolutely they're frustrated (and) rightfully so," the premier added. "Dynacare, get back to the (bargaining) table and give these people a raise." The workers walked off the job Tuesday morning, shuttering 22 Dynacare lab locations across the province and stopping the collection of thousands of tests, including blood work, urinalysis and prenatal checks. Hours later, Kinew's government successfully argued to the Manitoba Labour Board that Dynacare work is vital to the health system. By day's end, the board ordered the workers back. The union, the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, complied and the employees were back on the job Wednesday morning. The union and Dynacare didn't have an essential workers agreement in place in case of a strike. Kinew lambasted Dynacare for "making a mess of the situation" and said his government had no choice but to intervene, because it has a higher responsibility to keep the health system running. "Nobody should be using the results of a cancer test as leverage in a negotiation. Nobody," the premier said. The strike centred around wages. The union said its workers earn as much as 20 to 50 per cent less than counterparts in the public system. Dynacare said in a statement that it shares Kinew's commitment to maintaining reliable lab services and that's why it's pushing for a "sustainable" collective agreement. "We acknowledge that this has been a difficult situation for patients and for the province, and we share the premier's desire for a resolution," the company said. It said it has offered a substantial pay increase and has proposed arbitration as the fastest path to a fair resolution. Union president Jason Linklater said workers are determined to close the wage gap and aren't prepared to risk that in arbitration. He said the premier has the power to fix the problem, including by adding a wage agreement to the existing contract, and making more of the contract public. Linklater said he wants to know why Kinew renewed the contract last year without better wage supports for workers and has now cut off the union's ability to strike. "Government intervened; they totally took away the single piece of leverage," he said. "There's a whole bunch of anger right now, and people who feel betrayed. But I have to remain hopeful that there's still a solution." He pushed back on the province's perspective that critical testing would be lost, noting that Shared Health had said essential services would be maintained through government labs. Kinew said fault also lies with the former Progressive Conservative government for contracting out all non-hospital testing to Dynacare — a private operator. He said his NDP government is considering de-privatizing the testing but acknowledged it’s a tall, very expensive decision. "The PCs privatized this system," Kinew said. "Once you privatize something and it goes to the private sector, it becomes extraordinarily costly to bring it back into public hands." Asked for a response to Kinew, Progressive Conservative labour critic Josh Guenter, in a statement, said, "Under the NDP, we have seen wait times continue to go up across all sectors of our health-care system. Guenter added, "We saw, once again, this premier — who ran on fixing health care — choosing conflict over care." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2026. Ian Bickis, The Canadian Press
