Victoria-
At every Premiers’ meeting in recent memory, the demand has always been the same: more federal government funding for health care.
But the call coming from the year-long installment of the evergreen history of federal-provincial relations, held this week in Victoria, B.C., was more insistent, health systems at across the country still reeling from the pandemic.
Provinces are dealing with burnout of frontline healthcare workers, reduced hours at urgent care centers and persistent delays in diagnostic tests and surgeries, despite a special federal transfer and one-time $2 billion to help solve these problems.
The problem, according to premiers and territorial leaders, is not just the effects of the COVID crisis, but a systemic underfunding of health care that they say is getting worse every year as the Canadian population is aging and the cost of new therapies is rising.
The premiers reduce the complexity of the funding gaps to a single number: 22% is the share they calculate the federal government spends on health care costs for each Canadian — a figure that was closer to 50 % at the beginning of Canada’s Public Health Care System.
In Victoria, premiers reiterated their call for the Trudeau government to raise that figure to 35%, an increase that would add about $28 billion to annual spending. They also asked Trudeau to urgently convene a first ministers meeting to strike a deal.
The federal government was not represented at the Victoria meetings, but at the end of the first day, Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc hit back from Ottawa, accusing the premiers of pushing a false number by failing to include the tax points that Ottawa transferred to the provinces in their health care calculations.
LeBlanc also raised a permanent irritant on the federal side: the provinces are spending money after receiving federal health aid. LeBlanc referenced the $500 per person rebate checks sent by the Quebec government of Francois Legault and the reimbursement of vehicle license plate fees by Ontario Premier Doug Ford shortly before. a provincial election.
How can the provinces cry poor on the one hand, it is thought, and then reduce their own revenues with refunds and rebates?
“What is not wrong is the fact that the Canadian health care system is in crisis. We see it in every province,” responded Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey, who is also a medical practitioner.
“It’s not wrong when I have to come in and tell a patient they can’t be operated on, that’s not wrong.”
British Columbia Premier John Horgan, host of the first ministers meeting this year, seemed particularly annoyed by LeBlanc’s remarks. For Horgan, the focus on provincial systems is both political and personal. He often cites his own experience of treatment for throat cancer, and his province is experiencing a severe shortage of primary care doctors as more than 900,000 residents say they don’t have a family doctor.
“It’s not about coming over with our begging bowl and saying, ‘Please sir, give us some more,'” Horgan said, referring to “Oliver Twist.”
Horgan also suggested that two key programs the Liberal government is pushing for could be put on hold until the issue of health transfers is resolved.
“We’re happy to talk about renewed programs, like pharmacare or new programs like dental care, but we shouldn’t do that until we have a solid foundation for our whole program,” said he declared.
While progress on a national drug program has been slow, the Liberals must begin implementing dental care as a condition of a deal with the federal NDP to hold power through 2025. Both programs require negotiations with the provinces to be implemented.
The two days in Victoria were the first in-person meetings of First Ministers and Territorial Leaders since 2019. During the pandemic, they have met regularly virtually with the Prime Minister to coordinate their response to COVID-19. But as the premiers return home, there is no plan for a meeting with Trudeau or his ministers, and no specific commitment to increase transfers.
The spirit of cooperation that prevailed during COVID now seems to be fading as the healthcare system still struggles to recover from the biggest crisis it has faced in generations.