(Hamilton) Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers will use a three-day federal Cabinet retreat in Hamilton to add the necessary backbone to reach a multi-year agreement with the provinces on health transfers.
An increase of several billion dollars in health transfers could be announced as soon as the next federal budget if Ottawa and the provinces manage to come to an agreement.
On the first day of the Cabinet meeting, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who is taking part in the talks with the provinces, said he was hopeful that an agreement would be reached soon.
“There is no doubt that the discussions with the provinces are progressing well. I’m much more optimistic this week than I was in December or July. There is still work to be done. But I see a strong desire on the part of all the provinces, including the Government of Quebec, to find the best way to reach the best agreement,” he said in an interview with The Press.
Like the Prime Minister, Mr. LeBlanc did not want to come forward on the increase that Ottawa plans to include in a possible agreement with the provinces. They are calling for a substantial increase of $28 billion a year.
“I expect that the work that we are going to do this week in the Council of Ministers reinforces what we are going to propose to the provinces in terms of details,” said Mr. LeBlanc, who is to discuss this subject. Wednesday with Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson, who chairs the Council of the Federation.
“If we want it to be in the budget, we have to reach an agreement within a month and a half. I have confidence that this will be the case based on the conversations that the Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, had, that the Prime Minister had and that I myself had with several Prime Ministers”, said Mr. LeBlanc.
A compromised agreement?
In addition, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, said he was convinced that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s remarks about a potential reference to the Supreme Court of Canada on the preventive use of the notwithstanding clause will not not derail a health care deal.
The Premier of Quebec, François Legault, denounced the remarks of his federal counterpart, considering that it was a “frontal attack” against Quebec. Mr. Rodriguez denied that charge.
” Absolutely not. There is nothing new in what has been said. There are questions that arise with respect to the preventive use of the notwithstanding clause. This is not a Canada/Quebec issue. It is a national issue. We saw it in Ontario. There are discussions in Alberta and perhaps in other provinces as well. So it’s normal that we ask ourselves questions about it, ”he said.
Justice Minister David Lametti has confirmed that a removal is among the options available to the federal government. But he hinted that he could wait for a decision from the Court of Appeal on the State Secularism Actadopted by the Legault government and which includes the derogation provision, before making its decision.