Two more provinces sign on to health-care deal

Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia say funding will help seniors and mentally ill

OTTAWA— The governments of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador have reached separate agreements with the federal government on health-care funding.

The deals were confirmed late Friday by the federal government.

The agreements came a day after New Brunswick confirmed it had struck a separate deal with the Trudeau government, which effectively splintered the united front the provinces adopted Monday when they rejected a federal offer.

“This agreement represents a major step toward better health care and health outcomes across the region, and I want to thank Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia for their vision and leadership,” federal Health Minister Jane Philpott said in a statement.

In the deal announced Friday, the federal government will give Newfoundland and Labrador $87.7 million, and Nova Scotia $157.0 million, for home care over the next 10 years.

Over the same period, it will give new mental-health funding of $73.0 million for Newfoundland and Labrador, and $130.8 million for Nova Scotia. Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister John Haggie said the funding “will not buy transformation in the health-care system,” but will help in key areas such as seniors care.

“It will deal with hot button issues. We have the population in Canada and just like other jurisdictions, we’re challenged with our youth in terms of mental health and addictions,” said Haggie in a phone interview.

“So our interests very much line up with the stated aims of the federal money.”

Ottawa had previously offered the provinces to increase health transfer payments by 3.5 per cent annually and spend another $11.5 billion over10 years in targeted funding, primarily for home care and mental health.

A statement from the federal government asserted that the deals struck with each of the two Atlantic provinces reflected their share of the offer made Monday.

The money will be made available as of April 1, 2017, the statement said. As well, all three governments have committed to work out details of accountability and reporting on the funding, which comes on top of previous legislated commitments under the Canada Health Transfer.

“It was important for us to know the money being invested in mental health and home care was going to be there in the future as we look to improve the way we deliver care in our province,” Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said in a statement.

Dwight Ball, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador, said that “during the course of our conversations with the federal government we have focused on our specific needs surrounding senior care and mental health.

“These investments demonstrate that the federal government recognizes the specific cost pressures that the aging population and mentalhealth issues place on our province.”

The Monday offer followed meetings between Philpott and Finance Minister Bill Morneau, and their provincial counterparts.

The provinces said Ottawa’s offer fell far short of what was needed and would also reduce the federal share of health funding.

Then on Thursday, New Brunswick signed its deal, sparking angry responses from other provinces.

Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa said New Brunswick has accepted what is effectively “a $30-billion cut over the next 10 years” nationwide — $12 billion for Ontario — in federal health transfers, the Star’s Robert Benzie reported.

“New Brunswick is saying: ‘OK, I’ll take (this) money and if I can get more money later, all the better,’ ” Sousa said in an interview.