PM will put money on table at health-care funding talks

Ottawa is expected to offer ‘detailed and significant proposals’

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will table his offer to premiers on how much money his government is willing to add to the health-care funding pot when he meets with them next month to work on a long-awaited new healthcare deal.

Trudeau said Wednesday he issued an invitation for the premiers to join him in the capital on Feb. 7, but he warned that “we’re not going to be signing deals on that particular moment.”

“It’ll be about starting the very direct hard work of the bilateral arrangements that will happen with every province, while at the same time moving forward with a frame around data, health information and results that I think every Canadian wants to see,” he said.

The meeting will also be when the federal government finally shows its cards to the premiers on whether it will agree to their demands that the federal government increase its share of health-care spending from 22 per cent to 35 per cent.

“This will be a detailed conversation where the government of Canada will put before the premiers what we think are detailed and significant proposals that answer so many of the common priorities that provinces and territories have been discussing with our government over the last number of months,” Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc said.

Estimates suggest a 35 per cent share in 2022-23 would require close to $30 billion in additional transfers to the provinces, though Trudeau has never committed to hitting that target. If he did, it would likely be a phased-in increase that would not hit 35 per cent for several years.

The talks are looking for a longterm arrangement that could last at least 10 years.

Trudeau said in French he would be offering an “appropriate” amount of money.

Ottawa transferred $45.2 billion to provinces for health care for the current fiscal year, and currently expects that amount to increase to $49.4 billion in 2023-24. Under the existing agreement, the transfers increase by a minimum of three per cent a year, or more under higher economic growth.

LeBlanc said he is hopeful a deal can be hammered out before governments table their budgets this spring. He added in French that he does not envision a scenario in which there are any “fundamental disagreements.”