Health transfers | Minister Duclos toughens his tone against the provinces

The federal Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, is toughening his tone against the provinces, which have been demanding for several months a substantial increase in health transfers without any conditions.

“Sending unconditional transfers to the ministers of finance of the provinces is not a healthy plan,” dropped Mr. Duclos, who also insisted that the provinces must “do things differently” in order to resolve the crisis shaking the health network across the country.

Minister Duclos thus more forcefully rejected the idea that Ottawa would agree to the provinces’ request to increase health transfers by $28 billion a year. Such an increase would mean that Ottawa would assume 35% of the total health care bill, compared to 22% today, according to provincial calculations.

Mr. Duclos made these remarks in the House of Commons on Tuesday, after being questioned by the Bloc Québécois and after the leader of the New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh, reiterated his intention to put an end to the agreement he concluded in the spring with the Liberals if the Trudeau government does not tackle the crisis that is shaking the health network by increasing transfers as of the next federal budget, among other things.

This agreement should ensure the political survival of the Liberals, who are a minority in the Commons, until June 2025.

A meeting with the provinces requested

Last week, the provincial premiers called for a meeting with Justin Trudeau at the start of the new year to discuss this issue, which is increasingly poisoning federal-provincial relations.

Mr. Trudeau is due to meet Prime Minister François Legault on Friday in Montreal. In his entourage, it was indicated Tuesday that the file of the financing of health is on the agenda of this meeting, as well as the ambitious targets of the federal government as regards immigration.

In the Commons, the Bloc Québécois made itself the spokesperson for the provinces by urging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with his provincial counterparts.

“It’s been 27 months since they quantified their needs and they’ve been asking for a meeting. The Prime Minister has been ignoring them for 27 months. It has been 27 months that the ability to treat the population continues to deteriorate in our hospitals, ”thundered Bloc Québécois MP Mario Simard.

“The real reason for the impasse is that the federal government does not want to pay 35% of health care costs. Meanwhile, in hospitals, people are piled up on stretchers for lack of beds and children are made to travel 500 kilometers to treat them. It can’t go on like this anymore. The federal government must assume its responsibility,” added Bloc MP Luc Thériault.

Minister Duclos remained unmoved. He said Ottawa is already giving the provinces a serious financial boost. “Investing in health is exactly what we have been doing for several years now with COVID-19,” said the Minister.

“There was an additional $72 billion in the Canada Health Transfer. In recent weeks, there has been an additional $2 billion to reduce delays in treatment, surgery and diagnosis, and an additional $9 billion in mental health, home care and long-term care. In addition, we promised that there would be more, but there is already a lot of money and we have to do things differently because Canadians and Quebeckers need that to be the case. »

Motion derailed

The Bloc Québécois returned to the attack, after question period, by proposing a motion in the House of Commons urging the Prime Minister to meet with his provincial counterparts at the beginning of the year, but Liberal MPs derailed the maneuver by refusing to give their consent for it to be adopted.

In a scrum before question period, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he made it clear to the Prime Minister during a meeting he had with him on Monday that the upcoming federal budget will be a litmus test for what comes next.

“It is clear that we have a pediatric health crisis. Concrete actions are needed to deal with this crisis. It is clear that the Prime Minister lacks leadership and he must meet with the provincial premiers to find solutions and resolve this crisis,” declared the New Democrat leader.