Over the last year the Provincial Government and Manitoba Hydro have announced several projects that follow through on the province’s Affordable Energy Strategy, including Bipoles I and II refurbishment, Northern EV chargers, 600 MW of indigenous-owned wind energy, and other refurbishments to existing dams.
Cost details have received significant attention as these projects have been unveiled, but relatively little has been said about staffing needs to follow through on Hydro’s emerging capital plan.
Among the lessons detailed in the book Austerity in Manitoba, released in November 2025, is that proactively investing in in-house capacity at crown corporations like Manitoba Hydro is cheaper over the long-term than a reactive reliance on third-party contractors. Although this issue tends to fly under the radar when it comes to crown corporations, maintaining appropriate staffing levels is key to ensuring the cost of a needed Hydro build-out is stably managed.
Documents submitted to the PUB show Hydro has a strategy to build internal staffing capacity after years of staff cuts. With that said, continued attention is needed to ensure issues created by contracting out like delays, safety concerns, and additional supervision, do not re-emerge.
Hydro is preparing to launch a ten-year plan to expand Manitoba’s grid to meet growing electricity demand. Manitoba Hydro’s Integrated Resource Plan, the plan that will guide this build-out, has yet to be released the corporation has made a series of announcements that mark opening steps.
In July, Hydro announced the overhaul of its two main transmission lines, Bipole I and II. Currently budgeted at $7 billion, the project will replace converter stations well beyond their expected lifespan at either end of the two lines.
On November 6, Hydro announced a new leg of its EV charging network, building six EV fast charging stations along Highway 6 between Winnipeg and Thompson by spring 2027.
Finally, in the November throne speech the province announced plans to build a controversial new gas-fired electricity generating station in the Westman region.
Indeed, all indications are that Hydro will need to expand its generating capacity as we decarbonize our energy systems, particularly home heating and transportation.
Ensuring that costs for this work are effectively managed will require carefully planned training and hiring.
Manitoba Hydro’s latest general rate application, reviewed by the Public Utilities Board (PUB) earlier this year, included evidence that Hydro is still recovering from layoffs and hiring freezes mandated by the previous government.
Between 2016/17 and 2020/21 Hydro staff declined by around 1500 positions (FTE), or nearly 23 percentage points. Hydro is hiring back some of the capacity lost over the last decade, however the corporation anticipates staffing levels to remain nine per cent below 2016/17 levels by 2027/28.
These Hydro staffing cuts expanded the need for costly third-party contracts, delayed maintenance investments, and burdened remaining staff.
Hydro documents show that time taken to complete major work orders (ie. connect new customers to the grid) has increased from 351 days in 2019/20 to 485 days in 2023/24, creating a drag on development.
At the same time, Hydro has been forced to delay maintenance and vegetation management, adding to a significant backlog. As maintenance work is delayed, the costs and potential for outages only increase.
Interviews with Hydro workers detailed in the Austerity in Manitoba book show how contracting out raised costs through repeated errors in maintenance and installation by contractors, forcing front-line workers to repeat or directly supervise work.
Under its current agreement with IBEW 2034, Hydro must hire 200 FTEs over the next two years to support front-line activities at Hydro. This is a good step forward – however, it is important that hiring streams across front-line activities are not suddenly cut once that 200 figure is met. Many frontline positions at Hydro take years of training, making a steady recruitment essential. Hydro does not expect to have a full complement of tradespeople until 2029/30 due to training backlogs created over the last decade.
At the same time, public reporting on IT and planning staff capacity is needed in rate applications to ensure this area is getting necessary attention. A recent decision to extend a third-party IT contract raises concerns about whether this work could have been brought back in-house.
Hydro is under pressure to keep costs down as it begins a cycle of expansion. All costs will correctly need to be justified to the PUB to ensure value for provincial rate payers. However the lessons of the last decade make clear that foisting cost-cutting measures onto front-line staff only increase costs in the long-term.
This op-ed was previously published in the Winnipeg Free Press December 12, 2025.
