Province had 'implied contract' with MMF to continue running health program: lawsuit

The Manitoba Metis Federation is accusing the provincial government of acting in bad faith, saying the province took months to inform them it would not be renewing an agreement to fund health-care services through the organization.

The MMF filed a statement of claim in Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench on Tuesday, seeking $651,000 from the provincial government for money spent on a health and wellness program that was funded through a four-year pilot agreement signed with the previous NDP government.

That agreement expired on March 31, 2016, weeks before the provincial election that brought Brian Pallister's Progressive Conservatives to power on April 19.

The MMF says on May 13, 2016, it sent a letter to newly appointed health minister Kelvin Goertzen, asking for a meeting, under the expectation that Manitoba Health would review the core funding agreement and prepare a service provider agreement to submit to the MMF for signing.

The MMF says it didn't get a meeting with the minister for more than seven months. During that time, the MMF "continued to employ staff and provide office space, equipment and supplies for the MMF [health and wellness department]," the statement of claim says.

"There was an implied contract between the MMF and Manitoba, with the same terms and conditions as the previous [service provider agreement]."

None of the lawsuit's claims have been proven in court.

When the MMF sat down with Goertzen and staff on Nov. 29, 2016, the health minister told them their request for funding, along with a request for a $2.5-million, three-year Mé​tis community wellness development and disease prevention program, were being moved to a review process led by consulting firm KPMG, the statement of claim says.

Goertzen told the MMF he didn't expect the programs would be recommended for approval, the statement says.

The MMF has said it never received an explanation why the funding ended and the government did not give fair warning that the move was coming.

The province "acted in bad faith" because Goerzen and his staff knew the MMF health and wellness department continued to provide services under the expectation that a new agreement would be signed, "while they knew this would not happen," the statement of claim says.

"Manitoba breached its duty to act honestly … and knowingly and intentionally misled the MMF as to its intentions."

In 2016, the federation applied for a judicial review of the province's decision, but that request was denied in July of this year.

A spokesperson for the province said it is reviewing the MMF's statement of claim. 

"We were pleased to see the court agreeing with our position on the Manitoba Metis Federation's judicial review application," the spokesperson said in an email.