(Victoria) As states prepare to return to the charge earlier in the week of demanding a recurring and unconditional increase in federal health care benefits from 22% to 35% of costs, the federal government is instead considering that it already exceeds its makes a contribution and wants to talk about targeted investments in the future.
Posted at 11:30am
Michel Saba The Canadian Press
Data compiled by federal officials and obtained by The Canadian Press shows that Ottawa accounted for some 37.8% of state health spending in 2019-20, 44.7% in 2020-21 and 39.8 % contributed in 2021-2022.
These figures take into account the value of tax points ceded to the provinces about forty years ago when part of the federal transfer – currently $45 billion – was replaced by this tax transfer. The operation is valued by Ottawa at $19.0 billion in 2019-2020, $19.9 billion in 2020-2021, and $20.9 billion in 2021-2022.
Ottawa includes expenses related to COVID-19 in its calculation. They would be 500 million (or 0.3%) for the first year analyzed, 19.1 billion (or 8.4%) for the second, and 3.0 billion (or 1.3%) for the third.
“In their calculation of current federal spending, the provinces completely ignore this transfer,” said a federal government source most familiar with the matter, who has granted The Canadian Press anonymity so that she can speak freely.
“If we do the calculation by including the tax transfer that the provinces exclude from their calculation, we are already well above the 35% required. That’s if we want to insist on the numbers,” she continues.
The office of Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos points out in an email that Canadians do not want a “sterile tax debate”, they want “care”.
The minister’s team insists Ottawa has shown it is willing to do its part to ensure the health system’s viability and accessibility. She cites billions in investments through bilateral deals in long-term care, mental health and home care, in addition to those announced in March that would serve to reduce surgery waiting lists.
“Since the pandemic began, our government has invested more than $72 billion to protect the health of Canadians,” it said.
cooperation or confrontation
Ottawa says it doesn’t want a row with the provinces, Minister Duclos said in March in a lengthy speech aimed at setting out his “vision for the future of federal-state collaboration” in health care.
Mr Duclos said he was looking for “partners” to work on five “priorities” on which there appears to be consensus: delays in treatment, diagnosis and surgery, and medical staff; access to basic services; long-term care and home care; mental health and addiction; and health data and virtual care.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVE
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos
Ottawa no longer wants to just write checks for the provinces to spend as they see fit, which would be tantamount to “throwing more money at the problem,” our source says. Rather, the government wants to be sure that the “additional investments” lead to “tangible results” in the lives of patients.
But Ottawa could find Quebec along the way, Prime Minister François Legault has warned in recent months, who has struggled to understand what the Trudeau government is getting into when health is an exclusively provincial jurisdiction.
Expectations of the federal government are low on the eve of the two-day session of the Federation Council. The event, which will take place Monday and Tuesday in Victoria, British Columbia, will bring together the provincial and territorial ministers in person.
We note in broad outline in Ottawa that Quebec is on the verge of calling an election, one of the provinces most resilient to what could be perceived as federal government intrusion into its jurisdictions, complicating negotiations on a sensitive issue.
At their meeting, the prime ministers want to talk “mainly” about healthcare and in particular the “urgent need to close the funding gap”.
Such a conversation with the federal government “cannot wait any longer,” BC Premier and meeting host John Horgan said in a statement.
Increasing government health transfers on a recurring and unconditional basis remains the “priority” of the Quebec government, argued Ewan Sauves, Premier François Legault’s press secretary.
“The federal government has always said that it would be ready to have the discussion once the worst of the health crisis is behind us. Here we are. It’s now high time for him to do his fair share of increasing his transfers to 35%,” he wrote in an email.
The prime ministers will also discuss the rising cost of living and economic recovery.