Provinces seek end to health-funding standoff with Ottawa

Theglobeandmail.com
Jan. 3, 2017
By Gloria Galloway

Finance and health ministers in the provinces and territories that have refused the federal government’s offer on health-care funding are asking for a meeting between premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to put an end to the impasse.

In a letter sent on Tuesday to federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau and federal Health Minister Jane Philpott, ministers in 10 jurisdictions said the amount of federal money on the table is not enough to sustain the current level of care, let alone make transformative improvements. The two sides are trying to reach a new decade-long health accord.

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland have signed unilateral agreements with Ottawa that the other provinces and territories deem to be inadequate. The ministers in the other jurisdictions accuse the federal government of cutting side deals that will create a patchwork of health-care across Canada.

“We remain open to continued discussion with the federal government to come to a multilateral agreement on health funding among all provinces and territories,” wrote the ministers for the hold-outs. “Thus, we think it is appropriate, that the federal and provincial-territorial First Ministers return to the table in the new year to continue this important discussion aimed at achieving a national agreement that sustains health care for the long term.”

Less than a month ago, Mr. Trudeau sat down with his provincial and territorial counterparts to strike a deal on climate change. Premiers had asked that the health accord also be negotiated at that meeting but the Prime Minister left it up to his finance and health ministers to hold those discussions with provincial and territorial ministers later in December.

The provinces and territories walked out of that session, saying Ottawa’s proposal would reduce the federal government’s share of their health spending to 20 per cent from 23 per cent over the coming decade.

The Liberal government has adopted its Conservative predecessor’s plan to cut the increase to the annual Canada Health Transfer from 6 per cent, where it has been since 2004, to 3 per cent - an offer that was sweetened slightly in December to 3.5 per cent.

Charles Sousa, the Ontario Finance Minister, said in a telephone interview that it was clear in the meeting that what was being proposed was not open for discussion. “The only way to open up those discussions, if that’s the case, is to take it to the Prime Minister,” he said.

The federal government did not indicate on Tuesday whether it is open to holding another First Ministers’ meeting to discuss health.

Although the provinces initially said they were unanimous in their rejection of the federal terms, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland signed agreements before Christmas in which the money they get from Ottawa would increase by at least 3 per cent annually and perhaps more, depending on the growth in the national GDP. Those agreements will be improved if another province or territory negotiates better terms.

The three provinces will also get their share of a new pot of $11.5-billion over 10 years that the federal government is offering for targeted investments in home and mental-health care.

In the Tuesday letter, the remaining jurisdictions said they are worried this new federal money would end with the new accord, leaving them to pick up the tab. They want it incorporated into the Canada Health Transfer base so it can “grow in a way that recognized the additional cost pressures facing our health-care systems.”

David Clements, a spokesman for Dr. Philpott, said the money Ottawa is offering could be transformative, and the government is open to working with each interested province and territory to deliver on the promised investments.

But Mr. Sousa said he is convinced the remaining provinces and territories are united in their resolve to get a better deal. “We are solid,” he said. “This is about all of us working together to find a common agreement and an accord that matters to us all.”