Health Policy and Evaluation

iACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of many individuals whose efforts and expertise made it possible to produce this report. We appreciate the assistance of Drs. Christopher Forrest, Kelly Barnard and Diane Watson who provide insightful feedback on draft versions of the document. Thanks also to Shannon Lussier for her outstanding technical support for this project. We are indebted to Health Information Services (Manitoba Health) for maintaining the integrity of the database on which these analyses are based, and to them as well as the Office of Vital Statistics in the Agency of Consumer and Corporate Affairs for providing data. We acknowledge the Faculty of Medicine Health Research Ethics Board at the University of Manitoba for their thoughtful review of this project. The Health Information Privac