Saskatchewan becomes the eighth province to sign a bilateral health care funding agreement with Ottawa.
The federal government announced Wednesday morning that it has reached an agreement in principle with Saskatchewan to invest nearly $6 billion in the province’s health care system over the next 10 years.
The agreement provides $1.11 billion for a new bilateral agreement “focused on shared health care priorities.”
It also provides a one-time, one-time payment of $61 million to address “urgent needs,” particularly in pediatric hospitals and emergency rooms, as well as long wait times for surgeries.
“This agreement in principle with the federal government is a major step towards improving and accelerating the work already begun,” said Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman in a joint press release on Wednesday.
The provincial government says the funding will be used to accelerate or improve new measures underway to increase access to front-line health care, surgery, and mental health and addictions services.
Minister Merriman says this is a positive step and will help build a stronger, more resilient health care system that will work for all residents of the province.
“Saskatchewan is continuing to make major investments in the health care system to address priority issues such as reducing surgical delays and wait times, while improving access to mental health services,” said the minister.
Mobility of caregivers
These bilateral agreements with each of the provinces are the first step in the comprehensive offer of federal health care funding of $196 billion over 10 years that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presented to the premiers of the provinces and territories on last month in Ottawa.
Ottawa has so far concluded bilateral agreements with Ontario, four Atlantic provinces, Manitoba, Alberta and now Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe previously said the offer was far less than the provinces were asking for, but none were in a position to turn it down.
As part of this new bilateral agreement, Ottawa is also committed to working with Saskatchewan to simplify credential recognition for internationally trained health professionals and “support the mobility of key health professionals “.
Saskatchewan has also agreed to collect, use and share de-identified health information to track progress in key areas of health care using common key indicators.
Federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said the agreement builds “on our common goal to ensure that all Canadians, regardless of where they live or their ability to pay, can access the care they need. need, when they need it”.