Federal-provincial fight over health transfer percentage points is 'futile': Duclos

OTTAWA -

Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos says the provinces’ focus on dollar amounts and health transfer percentages is “a futile fight,” and Canada’s premiers should instead focus on achieving results, such as recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals, and getting care to people.

“If dollars were the solution to the problem, the problem would be solved quickly because provinces and territories on average are already running surpluses,” Duclos told Joyce Napier on CTV’s Question Period, in an interview airing Sunday.

The first in-person meetings in four years between Duclos and provincial health ministers this week ended in a stalemate, with the latter saying — before the talks wrapped — that “no progress” had been made.

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Canada’s premiers have been calling for the federal government to increase healthcare transfers — the long term, predictable funding the federal government gives to the provinces and territories, called the Canada Health Transfer — from 22 per cent to 35 per cent.

The federal government, for its part, has agreed to send more money to the provinces and territories, but under certain conditions, namely expanding the “use of common key health indicators,” and building “a world-class health data system,” according to a statement from Duclos’ office.

Duclos said the focus on percentages does not help health ministers, who he claims were given “marching orders” by their premiers not to work with him short of signing a deal to increase the Canada Health Transfer.

“My job is not to send dollars to finance ministers,” he said. “My job is to make sure that whatever we do helps my colleagues, health ministers, do the difficult and important work that they want to do and want to keep doing.”

Duclos insisted he and his provincial and territorial counterparts work well together, but he blames premiers for quashing any hopes of progress fixing Canada’s broken healthcare system.

“Premiers want us to insist only on dollars, which you know, is not the solution,” he said. “We need to agree on ends before we come to the means to achieve those ends.”

Meanwhile B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix, who hosted this week’s meetings in Vancouver, said the premiers have been asking to meet and discuss the Canada Health Transfer with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for more than a year, and that Duclos didn’t come to the meeting with any details on that front.

“I would sit down at noon on Boxing Day. I'll serve turkey to federal officials if they come out and have a serious meeting on the Canada Health Transfer,” Dix said in an interview on CTV’s Question Period.

Dix added it’s “preposterous” for the federal government to claim the sticking point is only about dollar amounts, when provinces need more money to hire healthcare staff and address gaps in other areas, such as mental health and addictions, and the system was built on the federal government covering more of the cost than it currently does.

“The federal government, unfortunately, in this case, I don't think has taken this matter seriously,” he also said. “We've been asking for a meeting for a year and haven't got one.”

It wasn’t just the health ministers who said they were disappointed with the meeting’s outcome.

Canadian Medical Association (CMA) past president Dr. Katharine Smart told CTV’s Question Period that Canadians want to see accountability from officials and proof of a return on investment when it comes to healthcare spending.

“I think what we were hoping for was to see cooperation and collaboration between levels of government towards solutions in what is our failing healthcare system,” she said. “And I think, unfortunately, that we fall very short of that mark.”

Smart added the CMA has proposed several changes to the system that haven’t been implemented, and that there’s concern about pouring more money into “something that’s broken,” without working to “transform and modernize our healthcare system.”

“What that's led to here is an impasse,” Smart said. “But what that means for Canadians is ongoing lack of access to timely care, and it's highly concerning.”

“I think we need a fundamental shift in the way we deliver healthcare,” she added.