(Quebec) Quebec and Ottawa finally reached an agreement on an increase in health transfers which represents one-sixth of what Prime Minister François Legault requested. The province will receive $900 million per year as planned, unconditionally as it demanded.
“It’s not at all what we wanted to have, but […] it will give us resources to continue doing the work,” commented the Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, Tuesday in the House.
“It is an asymmetrical agreement, without conditions,” said the office of Prime Minister François Legault. Quebec is free to invest in the priorities of its choice. Health is an exclusive area of jurisdiction for Quebec, and the federal government has no say. We will have the opportunity to take stock of this agreement in the coming days. »
A year ago, François Legault left a federal-provincial meeting on health dissatisfied because of the proposal submitted by Justin Trudeau.
The Canadian Prime Minister had put on the table an increase in transfers of $4.6 billion per year over a period of ten years. The provinces asked for six times more (28 billion per year). A total of 9 billion in 10 years was planned for Quebec, or approximately 900 million per year.
To receive the money, each province had to conclude an agreement with Ottawa. The file dragged on with Quebec, which wanted to obtain assurance that the financing will be unconditional.
Ottawa recently announced that it would withhold approximately $900 million for 2023-2024 if the province does not sign an agreement by March 31.
The agreement was reached officially on Friday evening, a few hours after a meeting between MM. Legault and Trudeau in Montreal. Quebec is the last province to sign an agreement with Ottawa on health.
PHOTO CHRISTINNE MUSCHI, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Justin Trudeau and François Legault
One dispute concerned, among other things, Ottawa’s request to obtain, in return for its funding, data on the performance of the Quebec health system. Quebec will ultimately only have to send him the data from the famous online dashboard created by Minister Dubé and including various indicators.