TORONTO – Canada’s 13 premiers say they “expect” to get the federal government to raise its health care funding ratio to 35%: the joint statement came on Monday, a week before the meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau scheduled for February 7th. The premiers were clear: they want the result of that meeting to be an increase in Canada Health Transfer of about $28 billion from the current $45.2 billion. 

“Provinces and territories are making substantial investments and taking steps to innovate and improve health systems based on the unique needs and circumstances of their respective jurisdictions and residents” say provincial premiers who therefore expect “the federal government to play a role critical in supporting real and lasting improvements in health care for Canadians by increasing the federal share of funding through Canada Health Transfer from 22% to 35% and maintaining this level over time”.

Last week, however, Trudeau said he would “not sign any agreements” with premiers at their Feb. 7 meeting, but would rather focus on how to improve patient outcomes. Trudeau also said that, yes, he would increase health care funding to provinces and territories in what frontline workers are calling a “crisis” of staff shortages and wait times, but he didn’t commit to numbers or percentages.

“Providing money is certainly part of the solution, and we will, but funding alone won’t solve the problems we’re having,” added Trudeau, who said he intended to reach agreements with prime ministers on a number of key priorities, including: better access to family doctors in rural and urban areas, more sustainable health workforce, better and more timely access to mental health care and agreements by provinces to share health data. Trudeau himself, with federal health minister Jean-Yves Duclos and intergovernmental minister Dominic LeBlanc, later said he would seek “bilateral agreements” with provinces and territories in some areas, “because of differences between regions in terms of population, geography and access to certain services”.

All conditions, those posed by the prime minister, which do not seem to go in the direction desired by the prime ministers, who however insist: “The sustainability of our health systems requires a strong and predictable federal funding partnership now and in the long-term future”, said the premier of Manitoba, Heather Stefanson, current president of the federation that represents all Canadian premiers. It promises to be a hard fight.

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