More cash for health needed, Notley says
Premier wants Ottawa to negotiate on funding plans, not make decrees
Premier Rachel Notley warned Ottawa against “arbitrary declarations” on health-care funding Tuesday, saying provinces won’t simply swallow the federal plan to reduce the size of transfers.
Since 2004, under the health accord reached with former prime minister Paul Martin, provincial governments have seen six-percent hikes in federal health transfers annually.
But federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said on the weekend the Liberal government will stick with the former Conservative administration’s plan to move to annual increases of three per cent, starting next year.
Notley told reporters at the McDougall Centre in Calgary that kind of approach won’t work, as the federal government and the provinces try to hammer out a new health accord.
“In the past, arbitrary declarations by the federal government about long-term funding formulas have not helped. There is a desire on the part of all provinces to engage in meaningful negotiation,” said the premier.
“There needs to be some true rolling-up-the-sleeves, meaningful discussion between the parties. So I don’t consider this a done deal yet.”
Alberta will receive $4.2 billion in the Canada Health Transfer this year. The province’s budget assumptions moving forward are based on a three-per-cent increase, with Alberta expecting $4.3 billion in 2017-18.
But Notley — whose NDP government is forecasting a $10.9 billion deficit this year — said cutting the increase to the health transfer will have a significant effect on Alberta’s health system, which has seen spending go up by an average of six per cent annually over the past decade.
Areas such as mental health and addictions, which already need more resources, will suffer with less cash from Ottawa, said Notley.
“There are parts of our healthcare system where there are gaps in the provision of health care,” said Notley, whose own government is trying to reduce the rate of health-care spending increases to two per cent by 2018.
The premier also issued a veiled warning against the Liberal government tying health funding in the new accord to specific reforms or programs from the provinces, something Philpott has been thinking about.
“We remain committed to the notion of ensuring provinces have the ability to spend the health-care funding that they receive on the priorities that exist primarily in that province,” said Notley.
Under the plan brought forward by the Conservatives and adopted by the Liberals, three per cent is a floor, with potentially bigger increases to transfers if the rate of economic growth plus inflation exceeds that level.
Speaking outside the Commons on Tuesday, Philpott tried to separate the discussion on the health accord from the concerns around transfers. She characterized the Canada Health Transfers as financial mechanisms, while she stressed the accord is a shared arrangement.
“The health accord is basically an agreement between the federal government and the provinces and territories about what are our priorities for health,” she said.
“Where are the areas that we can actually work together to address some of the gaps in the health-care system?”
But British Columbia’s health minister warned that negotiations on a long-term, health funding agreement with the provinces and territories will be at risk if the federal government doesn’t bring more cash to the table.
Terry Lake said there is “no question” that annual increases of just three per cent would put B.C. under enormous fiscal pressure, especially with an aging population.
He noted provincial and territorial ministers have asked Ottawa to return to more traditional levels of health funding.
“I do think there’s a bit of a risk if we don’t make some progress on ... the discussion over the Canada Health Transfers, that there is going to be a lack of willingness to work together on a health accord,” Lake said.
All of the health ministers understand there cannot be “unbridled” growth on health spending, he added, stressing the need for a sustainable system.
“It is a bit ironic, I think, that a government that is really defending the Canada Health Act and public health care in Canada seems to be stuck on a very Conservative mindset around funding health care,” he said.
Lake also admitted he was “shocked” when a promised $3 billion over four years for home care failed to materialize in the last federal budget, adding he doesn’t know why this money has yet to flow.
Ontario Health Minister Eric Hoskins also said in a statement his province cannot support the federal policy that would reduce growth in provincial health transfers.
“We hope that the federal government will show some flexibility and a willingness to listen to the provinces and territories and work together with us in a collaborative way.”
We hope that the federal government will show some flexibility and a willingness to listen to the provinces and territories and work together with us in a collaborative way.