Quebec seeks more health-care funding
National accord negotiations may hinge on request
A new national health accord hinges on a federal agreement to first double the Canada Health Transfer to provinces and territories before they buy in to any federal spending strings, Quebec’s health minister declared Thursday.
“We will talk funding first, conditions second. That’s what we’ve already said. And that will not change in October,” Gaétan Barrette told reporters after delivering his message to a conference of health-care professionals.
A crucial negotiating session between federal Health Minister Jane Philpott and her provincial and territorial counterparts is scheduled for Oct. 18 in Toronto. The current funding formula expires in April.
But both sides appear to be digging in their heels.
Philpott, speaking to the same health-accord gathering sponsored by Canada 2020 and the Canadian Medical Association, sounded several conciliatory notes, but insisted her government is not prepared to “simply open up the federal wallet.”
Increasing heath-care costs are placing enormous financial pressures on all levels of government. A new Fraser Institute report notes health-care costs already consume an average of 40.3 per cent of provincial budgets.
On the federal side, the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) has increased by 79.4 per cent, to $36.1 billion this year from $20.1 billion in 2006-07, well above the 49.7 per cent growth in all other program spending, says the report.
Ottawa has offered to increase the CHT by about three per cent annually, which would boost its contribution next year to more than $37 billion. That is based on equal per-capita transfers, with no adjustments for demographic and other differences between jurisdictions, and is contingent upon compliance with the Canada Health Act.
Still, that’s down from the annual six-per-cent increases cash-strapped provinces and territories have received since 2014, when the previous 2004 accord expired. Instead of negotiating a new multi-year accord, the Harper Conservatives set the annual transfer increase at six per cent, with a reduction to three per cent in 2017. The Liberals have adopted the same position, but with a twist.
They’ve promised a $3-billion investment in home care over three years, plus additional spending on mental health services and access, technological innovation and better access to prescription medications — above the annual CHT.
Barrette characterized the negotiation strategy as “the classic chicken and egg story. Before you discuss any conditions — and we will not in Quebec — we have to discuss (CHT) funding,” and not the ancillary “themes” being pushed by the federal health minister.