‘We have a responsibility’

PM says Ottawa could act alone on LTC standards,

OTTAWA— A feisty Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s willing to go it alone and bypass foot-dragging provinces when it comes to national long-termcare standards, the use of rapid COVID-19 tests, and tracking the vaccine rollout as a way to develop better health datasharing.

In an online roundtable with health-care professionals Thursday, the prime minister fielded a wide range of questions from doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and health advocates after encouraging them to flag concerns he should be aware of and should bring to the attention of provincial premiers.

Trudeau acknowledged provinces have the constitutional responsibility to deliver frontline health care and “sometimes

that’s a good thing,” because it allows them to align health priorities with the geographic and population diversity of their region.

But Trudeau expressed impatience at the patchwork it creates and the obstacles it presents to getting quick and broad consensus or action.

Trudeau said the federal government might not deliver front-line health services, but it “does have a responsibility under the Canada Health Act to ensure all Canadians get the same quality or a level of health care that’s equivalent across the country and I’m ready to do that.”

For the second time this week, Trudeau publicly complained that Ottawa has distributed more than 19 million rapid COVID-19 antigen tests to provinces, many of which had clamoured for the tests last fall as a potential game-changer, but “not all” are being used.

On data-sharing, Trudeau said there should be “greater co-operation and better collaboration” among jurisdictions. He said the federal government is determined to improve data systems, and is using the vaccine rollout as an “opportunity” to press the provinces.

The federal government “decided we’re paying for the vaccines, we’re delivering them to the provinces,” and that “gives us a little bit of leverage” to insist on co-ordinating the tracking of doses, he said.

Still, Ottawa’s efforts on vaccine procurement have led to frustrations for provincial premiers after shipments of the two approved vaccines, PfizerBioNTech’s and Moderna’s, were steeply curtailed in the past few weeks.

“We’re approaching something that we’re calling the ‘big lift’, which is the phase in which we go from vaccine scarcity, as we are right now, to receiving millions upon millions, even tens of millions vaccines into the spring,” Trudeau said.

Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the military commander in charge of the deliveries, confirmed Thursday Moderna will ship 168,000 doses in next week’s Feb. 22 shipment, which is about two-thirds of what had originally been expected. Pfizer-BioNTech, which shorted its shipments over the past four weeks, has confirmed it will ship 403,000 doses next week, 475,000 the following week, and 444,000 doses weekly in the first two weeks of March.

Both companies told Fortin they will meet their commitment to ship a total of six million doses by the end of March, with four million coming from Pfizer’s retooled Belgium plant, and two million from Moderna.

That means a sharp rise in

March deliveries.

But Trudeau said he is “worried once we get everyone vaccinated and we try to move on to the next thing we will go back to not thinking too much about the uncomfortable reality far too many seniors live in across the country.”

Trudeau declared he is not waiting for all provinces to agree before drafting what a national framework on national standards for long-term care, confirming publicly for the first time what the Star reported last month.

The pandemic has been a “wake-up call” about the crisis facing many seniors, he said. “That’s why I’m committed to national standards long-term care.”

Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta have resisted federal intrusion into their area of jurisdiction.

In addition, the federal Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole this week said he would not support Ottawa “imposing” standards on the provinces.

“The federal government has a responsibility … to ensure all Canadians get the same quality of health care.” PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU