Premiers to accept federal health-care funding offer, focus turns to bilateral deals
Canada's premiers have agreed to accept Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's 10-year health-care funding offer and are now turning their focus towards inking their respective bilateral agreements with the federal government.
"We've agreed to accept the federal funding," Chair of the Council of the Federation and Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson said on CTV's Power Play with Vassy Kapelos on Monday.
The $196.1-billion federal offer to assist ailing health systems presented at an in-person First Ministers' meeting last week includes both increases to the amount budgeted to flow through the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) as well as $25 billion for bilateral deals tailored to each province and territory's health-care system's needs.
Stefanson said it is the premiers' position that the funding— totalling $46.2 billion in new money—doesn't address all of their concerns, so they still plan to push Trudeau on addressing certain aspects such as long-term sustainability challenges.
The premiers will be writing to the federal government to raise these issues, such as ensuring fiscal sustainability, so that after the decade-long deals expire, so the amount of money Ottawa sends to the provinces and territories doesn’t fall off a cliff.
"There's $46 billion on the table right now… $46 billion more than the federal government had on the table before. So that's a step in the right direction," Stefanson said. "We recognize this as a step in the right direction and so we will accept this."
This decision comes following a virtual meeting attended by premiers on Monday, and after the provincial and territorial leaders had nearly a week to digest Trudeau's proposal and parse the finer print of the accountability expectations placed on them.
The core planks of the federal offer are:
- An immediate national and "unconditional" $2-billion top-up to the CHT to address urgent pressures being experienced at pediatric hospitals, emergency rooms and surgical centres;
- A five-per-cent increase to the CHT over the next five years, provided through the annual top-up, to be rolled into the CHT base after five years to ensure a permanent increase that would provide an estimated $17.3 billion over 10 years;
- $25 billion over 10 years for decade-long bilateral deals with each province and territory connected to shared priorities such as family health access, investing in mental health and substance abuse services; and modernizing the health information system;
While Trudeau has billed his government's commitment as "a major federal investment in health care," the early indications were that the offer did not satisfy provinces' demands for a blanket increase to the CHT that would see Ottawa spending an additional $28 billion annually.
Scott Moe, premier of Saskatchewan, told CTV News from Regina that the deal wasn't "anywhere near" what they'd requested.
"That request was for the federal government to become a full funding partner," he said Monday.
Asked what changed, Stefanson said that Canadians want to see the two levels of government work together to address the pressing concern that is the state of Canadian health care.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc are spending time meeting with their counterparts across the country this week, as they look to iron out the details of the bilateral deals over the next few weeks ahead of the 2023 budget.
LeBlanc said on Sunday's episode of CTV’s Question Period that while he "wouldn't have phrased it" as a take-it-or-leave-it proposal, the total dollar value of the Liberals' offer on the table is final.
"It's a long term offer, as they had asked for, and we've invited them to begin bilateral conversations with our government to design these agreements for the priorities in their jurisdiction," LeBlanc said.
On Monday, LeBlanc and Duclos said in a joint statement that they "welcomed" the decision and that discussions with the provincial and territorial ministers are "rooted in how we can work together to improve health care for patients."
The ministers pledged a continued collaboration between the levels of government but did not give any details on what that would look like.
The federal government has asked provincial and territorial governments to develop "action plans" describing how they plan to use the funding and measure improvements to their systems.
Among the metrics the federal government says it will be looking at to assess whether tangible progress comes from the bilateral funding arrangements are:
- The net new family physicians, nurses, and nurse practitioners in each province and territory;
- The percentage of Canadians who have access to a family health team or family doctor;
- The size of the COVID-19 surgery backlog;
- The median wait times for community mental health and substance abuse services; and
- The percentage of Canadians who can access their health records electronically.
Duclos, who was in Halifax with LeBlanc as the pair negotiated the terms of the deal tailored for Nova Scotia, spoke of the strings attached, including that the provinces need to share data showing the money is making a difference.
"We believe that, yes, dollars mattered. But for those dollars to have any sense, they need to be translated into real outcomes," he said.
Stefanson said that in signing these deals, premiers want to make sure that the programs that receive federal funding for the next decade won’t be in jeopardy down the line.
"In the past, some of the some of the money for bilateral agreements has gone into the baseline funding, so into the Canada Health Transfer… to ensure there's continuity when it comes to making sure those health-care services will continue to be delivered," she said. "We just want to make sure that [the deal] has a longer term sustainable funding for the future."
Michael Decter, former Ontario deputy health minister, says that while the deal may be less than what the premiers hoped for, it's enough to make a difference if used properly.
"I would start earlier with primary care health-care teams," he said in reference to a system of care that provides patients access to a variety of professionals, such as nurse practitioners and registered nurses, in addition to their family doctor.
"We need teams rather than solo practice family doctors at the base of the system because, without them, you've got all sorts of people who just go straight to the emergency room," he said.
With files from CTV National News Senior Political Correspondent Glen McGregor
IN DEPTH
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney dies at 84
Former Canadian prime minister and Conservative stalwart Brian Mulroney has died at age 84. Over his impressive career, the passionate and ambitious politician, businessman, husband, father, and grandfather left an unmistakable mark on the country.
Who is supporting, opposing new online harms bill?
Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sweeping online harms legislation is before Parliament, allowing key stakeholders, major platforms, and Canadians with direct personal experience with abuse to dig in and see what's being proposed, reaction is streaming in. CTVNews.ca has rounded up reaction, and here's how Bill C-63 is going over.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
The first public hearings on foreign interference in Canada have begun. What you need to know
The public hearings portion of the federal inquiry into foreign interference in Canadian elections and democratic institutions got underway this week. Heading into this process, here's what you need to know.
TREND LINE What Nanos' tracking tells us about Canadians' mood, party preference heading into 2024
Heading into a new year, Canadians aren't feeling overly optimistic about the direction the country is heading, with the number of voters indicating negative views about the federal government's performance at the highest in a decade, national tracking from Nanos Research shows.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
opinion Don Martin: Pierre Poilievre's road to apparent victory will soon start to get rougher
Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives appear to be on cruise control to a rendezvous with the leader's prime ministerial ambition, but in his latest column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin questions whether the Conservative leader may be peaking too soon.
opinion Don Martin: The Trudeau lessons from Brian Mulroney's legacy start with walking away
Justin Trudeau should pay very close attention to the legacy treatment afforded former prime minister Brian Mulroney, who died on Thursday at age 84, writes columnist Don Martin.
opinion Don Martin: ArriveCan debacle may be even worse than we know from auditor's report
It's been 22 years since a former auditor general blasted the Chretien government after it 'broke just about every rule in the book' in handing out private sector contracts in the sponsorship scandal. In his column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin says the book has been broken anew with everything that went on behind the scenes of the 'dreaded' ArriveCan app.
opinion Don Martin: Despite his horrible year, Trudeau's determined to roll the dice again
In his column for CTVNews.ca, political commentator Don Martin says you can't help but admire Justin Trudeau's defiance and audacity of hope despite his 'horrible' 2023, as it appears Trudeau is insisting on leading the Liberals into the next federal election.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.