Putting advanced care paramedics on the street and leaving the fire truck in the hall

I will deploy nine advanced care paramedic units over three years so a wellness check and a low-acuity medical call stop tying up a fire truck.

My plan puts three units on the street in year one, three in year two, and three in year three. Each unit is one Advanced Care Paramedic in an SUV that does not transport patients. The paramedic can treat on scene, decide an emergency department bed is not required, cancel an ambulance that is not needed, and send a fire crew back to the hall.

Winnipeg is sending four to six firefighters to calls that need one paramedic. In 2025, we had 61,356 medical calls with both a fire crew and an ambulance, and the 90th-percentile wait for the first ambulance was 19 minutes and 27 seconds. That is a father who cannot breathe, waiting behind a wellness check.

In Ottawa, a single paramedic in a non-transport vehicle treats and releases on scene or cancels the ambulance. Ottawa's ByWard Market and Centretown advanced care units cancelled the ambulance on more than half of about 3,000 calls in 2025. Its mental-wellbeing team kept about 70 percent of 561 patients out of the emergency department in 2023. Minutes with no ambulance free fell from 52,995 in 2023 to 866 in 2025.

I am also committing to eight more ARCH units, two in each year of the term. ARCH, the Alternative Response to Citizens in Crisis, pairs a police officer with a social worker for a crisis that is not a medical emergency. The two programs are not interchangeable. One treats, the other de-escalates.

The province pays the advanced care paramedics and the ARCH social workers, and half the SUVs. The city's vehicle share is $1.08 million over four years. A new fire truck costs $1.3 million.

The province already funds EMS. I am asking them to fund the paramedic and the social worker, and to split the vehicles. The city's purchase is less than one pumper. The return is a fire crew free for a fire, and an ambulance free for a real emergency.

Winnipeg's phone triage already shows clinical judgment. In 2025, advanced care paramedics on the Enhanced Low Acuity Triage line handled more than 11,000 incidents and resolved more than 60 percent without sending a crew.

The first budget will publish hours and districts. A wellness check will no longer send a pumper by default.

Better days are ahead for Winnipeg with change that makes sense.

Kevin