(Ottawa) Secretary of State for Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc perseveres and signs off, reiterating that an agreement to increase health transfers could only go ahead with New Brunswick if deemed necessary, since Ottawa does not give others a “right of veto.” “I want to concede provinces”.
Updated yesterday at 4:06pm.
Emilie Bergeron The Canadian Press
” If [le premier ministre Blaine] Higgs comes to us with a proposal that makes a lot of sense, we won’t veto other provinces on the ability to do important things in New Brunswick,” he told the media crowd on Tuesday before heading to Question Time.
A few weeks earlier, in an interview with the New Brunswick local media, the Telegraph-Journal, he had mentioned the possibility of a “bilateral” settlement.
Mr LeBlanc, who was called on Tuesday to clarify his comments, said he wanted to “use that as an example” and refer to a meeting he had with Mr Higgs.
” [Il] is very open to working with us to get results for federal investments in healthcare, to communicate to patients and people who work in the healthcare system that a federal investment has improved [les choses] in a way. »
Pressed with questions from journalists, the minister did not go so far as to say that the federal government is now ready to discuss piecemeal agreements with each state and territory individually.
“We haven’t gotten to that yet because we often have multilateral talks with several provinces. Talks are ongoing. I remain optimistic,” he said.
Earlier this month, talks on health transfers collapsed on the sidelines of a meeting in Vancouver between provincial health ministers and their federal counterpart Jean-Yves Duclos.
In an interview with the Midi Info program, which aired on Radio-Canada that same week, Mr LeBlanc had criticized several provincial prime ministers for speaking differently in private than they did in public, citing this as an example Communiqué of the Federation Council written to him beforehand.
” In trust, [des] Prime Ministers tell us: ‘No, no, we understand that we have to have reasonable conditions and we expect [à ce] that you want outcomes for patients, for users of the healthcare system,” he said.
When asked Tuesday whether the majority of prime ministers made that outspoken speech in private, Mr LeBlanc avoided a straight answer.
“Probably more than two and less than 13 if I had to guess. […] It depends on the week. Sometimes it can go up to five. Sometimes it can go down to one,” he joked.
Earlier on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lamented the outcome of the recent meeting in Vancouver.
“Unfortunately, the provinces have decided not to interfere and discuss this plan, but we remain here to be partners,” he said before heading to his weekly meeting of ministers.
The prime minister was then challenged in a scrum over congestion at several children’s hospitals across the country and the stumbling block in discussions about health transfers.
After saying he was “enormously” concerned about health systems and “particularly [pour] Children,” he returned to the meeting with Mr Duclos.
“When health ministers met a few weeks ago, there was a plan to increase human resources to help people meet urgent needs,” he offered to follow the march, which he says was being proposed by the federal government .
PHOTO HEYWOOD YU, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Justin Trudeau
Ottawa’s provinces and territories have been asking for recurring increases in health transfers for several years. They want the federal contribution increased to cover 35% of healthcare costs, a provincial jurisdiction.
The Trudeau administration says it is ready to inject more money but also insists on the results Canadians expect, something officials have been publicly repeating for months.
François Legault’s Quebec government has insisted that money from Ottawa must be paid unconditionally since the beginning of the joint front with the provinces and territories.
“My healthcare colleagues and I all agree on the priorities for diagnosis and solutions to the problems we are now facing. Together in Vancouver […]we were all in agreement,” Mr Duclos said in the corridors of Parliament.
“The problem is that prime ministers — the bosses of my fellow health ministers — have told them not to speak publicly about results and to focus solely on dollars,” he concluded.
For its part, the office of Quebec’s health minister, Christian Dubé, wrote in a statement that “recruitment of workers and management of resources” are the province’s responsibility.
“We already have a plan in Quebec. During his visit to Vancouver, Christian Dubé introduced his colleagues in other provinces to the human resources component of the Quebec Health Plan for our network to become an Employer of Choice,” we argued in an email to La Canadian Press.
The minister’s office also recalled that Quebec has said it is ready to provide data to Ottawa. This was in reference to Mr Duclos’ call for the use of common health indicators as well as the creation of a “world-class” health data system for the country.