Private health care at issue in Quebec, fed dispute

Quebec Premier Francois Legault told Ottawa on Wednesday to stay out of the province’s business on health care.

“We will not be dictated to by the federal government,” Legault told reporters in Quebec City as he entered his limousine.

The strong words were in reaction to news that Federal Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor threatened the province last summer over its tolerance of private health care services.

Petitpas Taylor wrote a letter to former Quebec health minister Gaetan Barrette in August, warning him that Ottawa would cut health care transfer payments to the province if it continued to allow patients to pay out of pocket for medical exams. The letter said allowing patients to jump the queue in the public system and pay for private exams is “unjust” and a violation of the Canada Health Act.

Legault told reporters that Quebec has full authority over its health care system.

“With health care, we have the jurisdiction,” he said. “We will manage our health care system the way we want. The federal government is not going to start telling us how to manage it.”

Ottawa gave $6.2 billion in health care payments to Quebec for the 2018-19 fiscal year. In her letter to Barrette, Petitpas Taylor said access to medical care should be “based on health needs and not on the capacity or the will to pay.” She said Quebec’s system can include private providers as long as costs are paid for by public health insurance.