Prime Minister François Legault has admitted his inability to mobilize Quebec public opinion to force Justin Trudeau to fund more health care.
Mr. Legault said Tuesday that the subject of health care funding was difficult to explain to the population, which favors Mr. Trudeau.
In a press briefing, the Prime Minister pointed out that Quebecers send 40% of their taxes to Ottawa, which is inconsistent with the fact that the federal government finances only 25% of health care in the country, compared to 75% for provinces.
“I understand it’s complex,” he said. I think Mr. Trudeau takes advantage of this complexity. It is difficult to explain to Canadian citizens. »
Prime Minister Legault said he was looking for a way to rally public opinion to his observation.
“As long as Quebecers don’t make it a priority, to ask the federal government to increase its health funding, it will be difficult to put political pressure on Justin Trudeau,” he said.
With his counterparts from the Council of the Federation, Mr. Legault accepted, on Monday, the offer made last week by the federal Prime Minister. Mr. Trudeau granted an annual increase of $4.6 billion to the provinces, which were instead claiming $28 billion annually.
To the Liberal opposition, which underlined its “failure”, Mr. Legault recalled in the House that he had enjoined Quebecers not to re-elect Mr. Trudeau in 2021. “I suggested to Quebecers not to vote for Mr. Trudeau, he said. For what ? Because he didn’t want to increase health transfers and then because he didn’t want to give us more power in immigration. »
Last week, Mr. Legault had already recognized that the balance of power of Quebec, to obtain more from Ottawa, resided in the next federal elections.
Despite this rebuff, the Quebec premier said he and his counterparts would continue to demand more funding from Ottawa. “We are disappointed, we will continue to make requests,” he said.
Despite this, Mr. Legault repeated that Quebecers continued to receive 10 billion more than they send in taxes, as he had said last fall. “Indeed, it is advantageous for the moment for Quebec,” he maintained.
Constitutional order
The “unacceptable” health care funding agreement does not challenge the constitutional order, interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay said on Tuesday.
He invited Mr. Legault to put forward the demands of Quebec, which obtained an increase in its transfers of 1 billion dollars per year, when the request was 6 billion.
“There is a balance of power, in the population, in the National Assembly, to say that it does not pass,” argued the Liberal leader.
According to Mr. Tanguay, the result depends on Mr. Legault’s ability to negotiate.
“I don’t think we need to open the constitutional file to say that it’s a bad deal for Quebec,” he said.
The PQ leader, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, said that this disappointing agreement should encourage Mr. Legault to bring back the option of sovereignty in his arsenal against Ottawa.
“I think that people believed François Legault for a few years, but there, as the failures accumulate, but also as the contempt intensifies with regard to the choices or the differences of Quebec, we must raise the question of independence,” he said.
The co-spokesperson of Québec solidaire, Manon Massé, for her part demanded that Mr. Legault undertake that the shortfall will not be filled by cuts in public services.
“In my book to me, it misses 5 billion, she said. Perhaps he will seek out a couple more in bilateral discussions, but as we speak, 5 billion are missing. How is this government going to assure the entire population of Quebec that, when they need health care, there will be a response to their needs? »