As First Ministers continue to convene a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss increased federal funding for health care, Justin Trudeau says it will only happen “when there is the outline of an agreement “.
“Right now they still want all this money with no accountability and no clear results. I must say that is not what Canadians need. We’re going to send more money, but we need to see real change, real results,” Trudeau said in a year-end conversation with CTV National News anchor and editor Omar Sachedina. , airing in full on December 31.
“I look forward to sitting down with them once there is an outline of an agreement,” the prime minister said.
Although Trudeau has sworn the federal government is ready to send “billions more,” as he has pointed out before, that money will come with strings attached.
Premiers have stepped up pressure for Trudeau to meet with them to discuss the federal government’s increase of the Canada Health Transfer – which channels federal funds to provincial health systems – to 35% from the 22 Current % coverage for health – care costs.
This long-standing but recently reaffirmed demand comes as hospitals and healthcare facilities appear to be in crisis mode, between staffing shortages and a surge in cold-weather illnesses, compounding long wait times and other difficulties in accessing adequate care.
“Right now, we are seeing our health care systems being stretched and even broken across the country in many ways,” the prime minister said. “But, as the president of the Canadian Medical Association said last summer, you can’t fix something just by pumping money into a broken system.”
However, this latest push from premiers comes as some provinces emerge from the heart of the pandemic with projected budget surpluses.
In the interview, Trudeau indicated that he would not take a chair at the table until there was a more concrete plan for provincial accountability. However, he noted that the federal Minister of Health, Jean-Yves Duclos, continues to meet with his provincial counterparts for this purpose.
“When I spoke to nurses, doctors and frontline workers in our health care system, they all said, make sure the provinces actually deliver better care for the money than the federal government keep sending them. And that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that while “nobody wants to see” the federal government fighting with the provinces on this issue: “If I don’t stand firm and say, ‘You have to fix your system, you can’t not just putting in more money’, Canada will not see these changes happening at the provincial level.
You can watch the full interview with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on New Year’s Eve. A Conversation with the Prime Minister hosted by CTV’s Omar Sachedina will air Dec. 31 at 7 p.m. nationwide.
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