(Ottawa) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau must make the provinces understand that they will not be able to have more funding for health care if they take the path of privatization, according to Jagmeet Singh. The leader of the New Democratic Party (NDP) gave an election-style speech in caucus less than two weeks before the resumption of parliamentary work.
“The prime minister has the opportunity to protect medicare,” he said.
He added that it was understood that health funding negotiations with the provinces must include conditions. “I think that one of these conditions must be absolutely no privatization”, he launched to the applause of his deputies.
This means that no for-profit corporations will pay for health care, that patients will not have to pay “for anything” and that no private clinic will “cannibalize” the nurses and doctors who work in hospitals.
The Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, indicated Tuesday that there is still “a lot of work” to be done for an agreement to be reached on the increase in health transfers. Provincial and territorial premiers want to meet Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in February. In Ottawa, we are optimistic about the conclusion of an agreement.
“What are Justin Trudeau’s terms, then?” Apparently he agrees with Doug Ford’s plan to sell our health care and Danielle Smith’s plan to dismantle the very foundations of Medicare,” Singh criticized.
The premier of Ontario announced $18 million in funding on Monday to fund more surgeries at private clinics. The Ford government wants to bring waiting lists down to pre-pandemic levels by March 2023.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith wants to embark on health reform. She had previously indicated that she would like to charge patients for each visit to their family physicians.
Across the country, provincial and territorial health systems have faced tremendous challenges since the pandemic. In Quebec, the shortage of nurses and discontent over the use of compulsory overtime led to the closure of the emergency room at Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont on Monday evening.
The provinces and territories are demanding that the federal share in health be increased from 22% to 35%, which represents an increase of $28 billion per year.
Minister Duclos wants to impose five conditions to increase transfers: resuming the backlog for surgeries, improving mental health care, better access to primary care, better support for home care and long-term care duration and sharing of health data.
NDP MPs are gathered for a three-day retreat in Ottawa to discuss the party’s priorities for the resumption of parliamentary business on January 30. New Democrats struck a deal with the Liberals last year that allows Justin Trudeau’s minority government to stay in power until 2025 as long as they stay on the same page.
They managed to extract certain concessions from the government, such as the creation of a universal dental care program. Funding to increase the number of doctors and nurses is one of them.
With The Canadian Press