The stalemate of the past few months in health negotiations seems to have been resolved. The Trudeau government and its provincial counterparts would approach an agreement, which would provide for an increase in the federal transfer over ten years without major conditions. A second round of negotiations would then follow, in order to reach bilateral agreements in the priority areas targeted by Ottawa. The provinces, although optimistic, note however that before signing this first part, it remains to specify the size of the new transfer proposed by the federal government.
The Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, welcomed Friday the “significant progress [réalisés] over the past few weeks”. A meeting with his provincial counterparts in November ended badly. “We have seen a change and the focus has turned to what matters to Canadians, that is to say the results,” argued Mr. Duclos at a press conference in Ottawa to take stock of the situation. pandemic.
The federal government would therefore be ready to sign an increase in the federal health transfer over ten years. “There are going to be long-term investments because the pressures and challenges on our system are long-term,” explained Minister Duclos, citing the aging of the population and the shortage of personnel.
The provinces surveyed this week also reported good momentum in the discussions. “I think we will have an agreement in February, or at least a proposal for an agreement from the federal government,” New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs predicted in an interview on Friday. His counterpart in Newfoundland and Labrador, Andrew Furey, said Wednesday that the two camps were “very, very ready” for an agreement.
According to our information, the only condition that Ottawa would impose on this increase in health transfers would be data sharing by the provinces – to which the Premier of Quebec, François Legault, and Doug Ford, in Ontario, have agreed. Their colleagues would also be comfortable. If such was the outcome of the agreement, the provinces could then claim to have won their case, they who have been demanding for more than two years an increase in the transfer without conditions.
The Trudeau government, for its part, would proceed in two stages to subsequently negotiate piecemeal agreements, with the provinces that so wish, to invest in its priorities (the shortage of health care workers, primary health care and family medicine, long-term care and home care, mental health and addictions, and virtual health care).
Still the knot to settle
Neither Minister Duclos nor the office of François Legault wanted to detail the negotiations in the public square. Mr. Legault’s office reiterated that it opposes “any conditionality of the federal government with respect to federal health transfers”. “The sharing of data, for us, is not a condition but a question of transparency”, indicated its spokesman Ewan Sauves.
Mr. Duclos did not want to advance on the size of the investment envisaged by Ottawa. Rather, he reiterated that it was necessary to bet on “the results”, and not the sums to achieve them.
The details as to the data that would be requested from the provinces by Ottawa have not yet been specified to them either.
Although the provincial premiers are planning a meeting in Ottawa for mid-February (February 9-10 or 12-13, as first reported by Radio-Canada), Justin Trudeau has not confirmed that he will join them. He has insisted from the start that he needs a framework agreement before sitting down with his counterparts to finalize it.
“Unfortunately, despite the Premiers’ clear commitment to meet with the Prime Minister as soon as possible, no date has yet been set,” commented Heather Stefanson, Premier of Manitoba who is chairing the Council this year. federation.
Prime Minister Legault said Wednesday that he would like, like other governments, to see an agreement in time to include this increase in transfers in his spring budget.
change of tone
At the end of the meeting of health ministers this fall, those of the provinces strongly denounced that Minister Duclos did not have a sum of money to offer them. The provinces are demanding that Ottawa improve its transfers in order to cover 35% of their health bill, rather than 22% currently. This would require an initial additional investment of $28 billion. The provinces still do not know today the size of the increase envisaged by Ottawa.
The tone of the discussions changed, however, because the public had had enough, according to Premier Higgs “It became quite clear that the popular feeling was that if you put more money into the health care system, it must lead to better access and better outcomes. In this sense, the population endorsed the position of the federal government, he said in an interview.
His colleague Andrew Furey, from Newfoundland, notes that everyone’s goals have always been more aligned than they seem. Because all prime ministers, as political leaders and fiscal managers, want to improve health care, reduce wait times and get a “good return on their investment”. “For whatever reason — the rhetoric, the politics — the public discourse reflected a larger political gap than the reality. »
However, the provinces seem less in tune with the targeted federal priorities. It will take “flexibility between intergovernmental agreements,” warned Prime Minister Furey this week, like the Quebec government, which is still opposed to any federal condition in health.