Winnipeg - General Surgery

University of ManitobaWinnipeg, ManitobaCMG stream

CaRMS program description, 2027 match, last approved 10 Sep 2026 · See the 2026 version

2027 match programs, from CaRMS as of 5 Oct 2026. Programs can still change until file review opens 26 November; we re-check every two weeks. Always confirm on CaRMS (opens in a new tab).

Positions (approx. quota): 4 positions
Length: 5 years
Stream: CMG
Discipline: General Surgery
Applications per year: 51–200
Applicants offered interviews: 51–75%
Accreditation: Accredited
CaRMS program ID: 35749

Bands are 5-year averages the program reports to CaRMS. They describe past cycles, not your odds.

Summary

The University of Manitoba General Surgery program is a five-year residency, with the first two years in the Surgical Foundations Program.
Training takes place mainly at Health Sciences Centre and St Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, with community general surgery rotations in and outside Winnipeg.
All residents must take part in research, and an optional Master's year or two-year Clinician Investigator Program is available.

Training

Setting

Academic / tertiary hospital
Urban community

Sites

10 teaching sites

Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre (HSC)
St Boniface Hospital
Children's Hospital, Health Sciences Centre

Show all 10

CancerCare Manitoba
Breast Health Centre
Grace General Hospital
Seven Oaks General Hospital
Concordia Hospital
Selkirk and District Community Hospital
Boundary Trails Hospital (Morden/Winkler)

Rural exposure

Optional rural rotation

Focus areas

Small program

Research

Required · research project · protected time

Highlights

Three dedicated endoscopy months with a didactic endoscopy curriculum.
Small program with a 1:1 staff-to-resident ratio and few fellows competing for operative cases.

By year

PGY-3

General Surgery4 Blocks
Gastrointestinal / EndoscopyHealth Sciences Centre3 Blocks
Vascular SurgeryHealth Sciences Centre or St. Boniface Hospital2 Block
Gold Trauma ServiceHealth Sciences Centre1 Block
Acute Care Surgical Service (ACSS)St. Boniface Hospital1 Block
Elective Rotation1 Block
Vacation (28 days)1 Block

PGY-4

General Surgery5 Blocks
Electives3 Blocks
Community General Surgeryvarious sites in Winnipeg and outside of Winnipeg2 Blocks
Gold Trauma ServiceHealth Sciences Centre1 Block
Acute Care Surgical Service (ACSS)St. Boniface Hospital1 Block
Vacation (28 days)1 Block

PGY-5

General Surgery4 Blocks
Transition to Practice4 Blocks
Gold Trauma ServiceHealth Sciences Centre1 Block
Acute Care Surgical Service (ACSS)St. Boniface Hospital1 Block
Breast SurgeryHealth Sciences Centre1 Block
Head & Neck Oncology SurgeryHealth Sciences Centre1 Block
Vacation (28 days)1 Block

From the program's rotation list.

Other rotations

Listed by the program without a single PGY year.

Gold Trauma Service (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 2 Block · Health Sciences Centre)
Acute Care Surgical Service (ACSS) (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 2 Block · St. Boniface Hospital)
Minimally Invasive Surgery (A Service) or Colorectal General Surgery (B Service) (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 2-4 Blocks · St. Boniface Hospital)
Surgical Oncology (Green Service) or Hepatobiliary Surgery (Orange Service) (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 2-4 Blocks · Health Sciences Centre)
Community (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 2 Blocks · Health Sciences Centre (Silver Service))
Pediatric Surgery (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 2 Block · Health Sciences Centre Children's Hospital)
Thoracic Surgery (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 1 Block · Health Sciences Centre)
Surgical Selective (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 2 Block)
Gastroenterology (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 1 Block · Health Sciences Centre of St. Boniface Hospital)
Critical Care - Surgical Intensive Care (SICU) (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 1 Block · Health Sciences Centre)
Critical Care, Medical/Surgical Medical Intensive Care (ICMS) (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 1 Block · St. Boniface Hospital)
Research (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 1 Block)
Vacation (28 days) (PGY-1 and PGY- 2 · 2 Block)

Selection

Application file components

CV
Electives
Examinations
Extra-curricular
Leadership skills
MSPRs
Personal letters
Reference documents
Research/Publications
Transcripts

Return of service

Not stated on CaRMS page. Check the provincial return-of-service rules.

Applications per year

51–200

Applicants offered interviews

51–75%

Interviews

Dates (2027 match)

25 Jan 2027

Mode

Virtual

Format

Traditional (one on one/two on one)

Programs can change interview dates. Confirm on carms.ca.

Pay

Provincial scale, last updated 22 Jul 2026 · check the current agreement(opens in a new tab)

Annual salary by PGY level, Manitoba
Level	Annual salary
PGY-1	$72,171 / year
PGY-2	$77,416 / year
PGY-3	$83,372 / year
PGY-4	$89,329 / year
PGY-5	$95,285 / year

One provincial scale for Manitoba, set by the resident agreement, so every program there pays the same. Showing the 5 levels this program covers.

Call

Call (provincial max): 7 calls per 4-week block, in-house and home call combined

The union agreement’s cap for all residents in the province; your program’s actual call schedule may be lighter. Check with the program.

PARIM agreement, 1 Jul 2024 to 30 Jun 2027.

Teaching sites

Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre (HSC) (Winnipeg)
St Boniface Hospital (Winnipeg)
Children's Hospital, Health Sciences Centre (Winnipeg)
CancerCare Manitoba (Winnipeg)
Breast Health Centre (Winnipeg)
Grace General Hospital (Winnipeg)
Seven Oaks General Hospital (Winnipeg)
Concordia Hospital (Winnipeg)
Selkirk and District Community Hospital (Selkirk · rural or distributed site)
Boundary Trails Hospital (Morden/Winkler) (Winkler · rural or distributed site)

Hospital facts

Hospital size and activity: Manitoba doesn't publish this as open data.

Unfilled positions in past years

Open after round 1 in 2 of 8 years (2019–2026); still open after round 2 in 0 of 9 years.

Positions at this site, all streams. Site as CaRMS lists it: Winnipeg.

Positions at this site, all streams, still open after round 1 and after round 2, by year. Each count above zero links to the CaRMS list page it comes from.
Year	Open after round 1	Open after round 2
2018	not available	0
2019	0	0
2020	1 position open after round 1 in 2020, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2021	0	0
2022	0	0
2023	0	0
2024	1 position open after round 1 in 2024, CaRMS list (opens in a new tab)	0
2025	0	0
2026	0	0

CaRMS’s first-round list for 2018 was not found, so round 1 is counted over 8 years and round 2 over 9.

A position can go unfilled because of where the site is, because it is open to IMGs only or to another restricted stream, or because the quota changed late. It says nothing about the quality of the training. Verify with the CaRMS lists. Source: CaRMS’s lists of positions open after round 1 and after round 2, as read in October 2026 (latest: 2026 round 1 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab), 2026 round 2 (CaRMS PDF, opens in a new tab)). A site’s numbers are shown when it had positions open after round 1 in at least 2 of 8 years or at least 3 in one year.

Contacts

Grouped by the titles CaRMS lists. The program office (administrators and coordinators) usually answers questions about the program and applying; the director leads the training.

Program officeadministrators and coordinators

gen.surg@umanitoba.ca

Cathlyn Gomez · Program Administrator

204-787-8043

Program directors

Dr. Markus Ziesmann
Associate Program Director
mziesmann2@hsc.mb.ca
Faculty profile of Dr. Markus Ziesmann(opens in a new tab)
Research interests
Viral infection in trauma patients; Primary care delivery in trauma patients; Closure of open abdomen
Source: umanitoba.ca · checked Oct 2026
Dr. Justin Rivard
Program Director
jrivard@hsc.mb.ca
204-787-3123
Faculty profile of Dr. Justin Rivard(opens in a new tab)
Research interests
Acquisition of technical skills; Adult learning theory; Cancer surgery outcomes; Knowledge translation
Source: umanitoba.ca · checked Oct 2026

Per CaRMS. Staff change during the cycle, so check the CaRMS program page(opens in a new tab) before emailing.

Location

Winnipeg, Manitoba

About the city

Public statistics for the place named by this program’s location label, each with its source and reference period. They describe the place, not the program, and are not a ranking. Check each source before you rely on it.

Climate

Canadian Climate Normals, 1991–2020. Each value comes from the nearest weather station that reports it, not from the city itself.

January average: −16.3 °C Winnipeg Richardson (Airport), 7.2 km away
July average: 19.5 °C Winnipeg Richardson (Airport), 7.2 km away
Snowfall: 126.2 cm a year Winnipeg Richardson (Airport), 7.2 km away
Days below −20 °C: 51.9 days a year Winnipeg Richardson (Airport), 7.2 km away

People

2021 Census. Figures are for the municipality of Winnipeg, not the metropolitan area. Statistics Canada rounds counts, so small places are approximate.

Population: 749,607 people up 6.3% from 2016
Official languages: English only 88.5% · French only 0.2% · English and French 9.7% · neither 1.7% Share of residents who can conduct a conversation in each. This is not the language spoken at home.
Immigrants: 27.3% of residents arrived 2016–2021: 6.2% · non-permanent residents: 4.1%
Indigenous identity: 12.4% of residents
How people commute: car, truck or van 82.6% · public transit 9.3% · walking or cycling 6.1% · other 2.0% Average commute: 21.8 minutes. Shares are of people who commute.The way Canadians commute was altered in 2021 by the pandemic, with lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19 and changes in how and where Canadians worked leading to 2.8 million fewer commuters, compared with five years earlier. Statistics Canada, The Daily, 30 Nov 2022(opens in a new tab)
Median household income: $80,000 before tax $69,500 after tax · income year 2020, in 2020 dollars

Rural and remote

This describes the place named by the program’s location label. Programs can train in several towns, so it is not every site.

Population centre: Winnipeg, a large urban population centre (100,000 or more people) 758,515 people in 2021
Remoteness index: 0.146 0 is least remote, 1 is most remote. Statistics Canada calls this index experimental.

Housing, cost and work

Each figure names the area it covers. A missing line means the source publishes nothing for this area.

Rental vacancy rate: 2.8% October 2025 survey, Winnipeg, Manitoba (census metropolitan area). The share of purpose-built rentals (three units and over) vacant, not a rent.
Basic cost of living: $55,813 a year Market Basket Measure 2025, Winnipeg, Manitoba, for two adults with two children. A modest, basic basket (the poverty line), not a resident’s budget. A size-class region is not the town itself.
Unemployment rate: 5.0% September 2026, three-month average, seasonally adjusted, Winnipeg, Manitoba (census metropolitan area); standard error 0.4 points. A survey estimate.

Job outlook

Employment and Social Development Canada’s rating for the occupation in the economic region. It is not a count of jobs, and says nothing about CaRMS positions or your match.

Outlook, 2025–2027: Good The employment outlook will be Good for specialists in surgery (NOC 31101) in the Winnipeg region for the 2025-2027 period.
Canada-wide, to 2033: Strong risk of Shortage ESDC’s projection for specialists in surgery, 2024–2033. Recent conditions, 2021–2023: Strong signs of Shortage.

Sources and licences

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada. Adapted from Statistics Canada, 2021 Census Cartographic Boundary Files.
Adapted from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, Rental Market Survey, October 2025 (vacancy rates), and Statistics Canada, Table 34-10-0130-01. This does not constitute an endorsement by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation or Statistics Canada of this product.
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada, Canadian Occupational Projection System (COPS), 2024 to 2033 projections).
Data Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada (Canadian Climate Normals 1991-2020).
Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence - Canada (Employment and Social Development Canada, 3-Year Employment Outlooks).
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Index of Remoteness (17-26-0001), 2021. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 14-10-0459-01 Labour force characteristics by census metropolitan area, three-month moving average, seasonally adjusted, reference month 2026-09. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 11-10-0066-01 Market Basket Measure (MBM) thresholds for the reference family by Market Basket Measure region, component and base year, 2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0011-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and population centres, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0002-01 Population and dwelling counts: Canada and census subdivisions (municipalities), 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0057-01 Household income statistics by household type: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0173-01 Mother tongue by knowledge of official languages: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0266-01 Indigenous identity by Registered or Treaty Indian status: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0307-01 Immigrant status and period of immigration by place of birth: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Adapted from Statistics Canada, Table 98-10-0458-01 Main mode of commuting by commuting duration, time leaving for work, age and gender: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions, 2021 Census. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.

Independent. Not affiliated with CaRMS or the program. Programs edit their descriptions during the match; confirm on carms.ca (opens in a new tab) before you apply. Data last updated on CdnMD 6 Oct 2026.