Trudeau to present health care bid to PMs in long-awaited meeting for a new deal

OTTAWA — Canada’s health care system isn’t performing as well as it should and that needs to change, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday as he prepared to meet with ministers to work on a new health financing deal.

Heading to a morning cabinet meeting ahead of afternoon talks with prime ministers, Trudeau said the federal government would be “investing significantly” to update the system.

He plans to show Ottawa’s offer to the Prime Ministers when he sits down with them later today.

Canadians are proud of the public health system in this country, Trudeau said, but it needs work.

“We all have to recognize that it hasn’t reached the level that Canadians would expect,” he said.

“We will top up with even more funds.”

The provinces budgeted about $204 billion for health care this fiscal year, and Canada’s health transfer was set at $45 billion, or about 22 percent of that. The prime ministers want to increase the federal share to 35 percent.

A senior federal official with knowledge of Ottawa’s offer said there will be both a larger transfer increase and offers of more money for one-for-one deals to accommodate individual provinces’ needs as well as federal priorities.

Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey arrived at the talks on Tuesday and told reporters he was eager for an agreement and suggested he and his provincial counterparts would attend the meeting with a sense of practicality.

“Whenever you’re discussing from a negotiation perspective, there’s riverbank, and there has to be a little bit of diplomacy,” he said.

“There has to be a healthy dose of pragmatism.”

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she was “optimistic” about the upcoming bid and expressed her openness to striking a one-off deal with Ottawa.

On Tuesday, Trudeau cited more family doctors, shorter waiting lists, assistance in recruiting and retraining workers, and improving mental health care as some of those possible areas.

The federal government is also insisting that provinces agree to overhaul their health system data collection so that patients’ medical records are more complete and accessible across provinces and to multiple health professionals, and governments can better see where problems exist.

The prime ministers have been in Ottawa since Monday, meeting alone at a downtown hotel and aiming for a united front when they sit down with Trudeau. They said they are going into the talks with an open mind, no red line and ready to sign one-to-one agreements with Ottawa.

British Columbia Premier David Eby says bilateral deals will be a big part of the negotiations but the main goal is to get Canadians the health care they deserve.

Canada’s healthcare transfer is currently projected to grow to $49.4 billion from 2023-2024, a nine percent increase from this year, or twice the average annual increase over the past six years.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on February 7, 2023.

— With files by Stephanie Taylor

Mia Rabson and Mickey Djuric, The Canadian Press

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