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This article was published 19/10/2017 (1068 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitobans are strongly opposed to the idea of paying a health tax, and the resistance cuts across political party lines, according to the results of a new poll commissioned by the Free Press.

More than 70 per cent of Manitobans object to the imposition of health-care premiums, which Premier Brian Pallister raised as a trial balloon in mid-September.

But it's the intensity of the opposition that may give the Progressive Conservative government pause.

According to the Probe Research survey, 53 per cent of Manitobans say they are "strongly opposed" to health premiums, while another 18 per cent say they are moderately opposed.

Among PC supporters, the level of resistance to a potentially significant new tax is also strong. Forty-three per cent said they were strongly opposed to the idea, while another 20 per cent said they were moderately opposed.

Todd MacKay, Prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the poll results are "pretty emphatic."

Manitobans have responded to the possibility of an expensive new tax with a "hard no," MacKay said. "I think it would be catastrophic (politically) for the government to introduce it."

The Probe survey was conducted in late September and early October just weeks after Pallister first raised the idea of a health tax at a Sept. 13 news conference. The premier expressed concern about a lack of revenues given federal plans to reduce annual health grant increases to the provinces to three per cent from six per cent.

Overall, 71 per cent of Manitobans surveyed opposed a health premium, while 23 expressed support. Only three per cent of respondents "strongly" supported a new health tax, while seven per cent said they were unsure.

The Probe poll results are sharply at odds with those of an online survey undertaken by the province. Government sources recently shared preliminary results of their online survey with the Free Press.

They said their survey showed a clear majority of respondents favoured some level of health premium.

Tory sources said 40 per cent of respondents indicated they would gladly pay a "small" premium to avoid any cuts to health services, while another 14 per cent were willing to pay a "large" premium to receive enhanced services. Forty per cent said they would rather endure cuts to health services to avoid paying any kind of fee. The government survey noted in some provinces families pay $75 per month in health premiums.

Online surveys such as the one the PCs posted on the province's website are much less accurate than scientific polls that are weighted to ensure representative sampling based on geography, gender, age, education and income level. It is also possible for anyone to fill out the government's online survey over and over again, further skewing the results.

Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Mary Agnes Welch, a Probe research associate, said Manitobans obviously feel strongly about the issue, and it will be difficult for the Pallister government now to impose health-care premiums, if that is its intent. The premier has not revealed his intentions beyond his initial statements on the issue last month.

"This isn’t an issue where people’s views are sort of murky or lukewarm," Welch said. "More than half say they are strongly opposed to this idea."

Sandi Mowat, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, said she's not surprised by the results.

"We know that there are Manitobans now that already pay out of pocket for things like prescription drugs, and it looks like some of them will be paying out of pocket for OT (occupational therapy) and physiotherapy as well," she said. "This is something else that families just can’t afford."

Mowat referred to the potential introduction of health fees as "one step away from privatizing health-care services."

However, a senior economist with the Fraser Institute's Centre for Health Policy Studies disputes that assertion, calling it a "complete distraction."

Bacchus Barua said with or without the introduction of premiums, Manitoba would continue to operate a universal public health system. What the government is considering is nothing more than a tax, he said. "Instead of money coming out of one pocket it’s coming out of another."

Barua said he's concerned the province is essentially looking to "spend their way out of a problem by taxing more" -- something governments across the country have done throughout much of the 2000s, with little success.

While Canadian health budgets have soared in recent years, wait times for services escalated, more than doubling on average since 1993, he said.

larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca