Ministers gathered for meetings to tackle the national health crisis left on Tuesday without assurances of more funding from their federal counterpart, who accused prime ministers of giving them “marching orders” to stall negotiations. British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix, who chaired the second day of gatherings Tuesday with federal minister Jean-Yves Duclos, said the federal government withdrew from a joint statement on the talks and was excluded from a news conference. Duclos was referring to a statement issued earlier Tuesday by the Federation Council, the group representing all prime ministers, before the talks concluded. In the statement, the premiers said they were disappointed by the lack of federal response to an ongoing request from provinces and territories to get 35 per cent of health care costs covered by Ottawa, up from 22 per cent. But Duclos declined to say at a separate news conference whether he came to the table with more cash, adding only that premiers did not want health ministers to accept any conditions, such as providing data on the health care workforce. “Unfortunately, despite (Monday’s) gesture of good faith, our provincial and territorial colleagues, our colleagues, have been given marching orders by their premiers not to make further progress,” Duclos said. “As a result, prime ministers are preventing all of us health ministers from taking concrete and tangible steps that would make an immediate difference to the everyday lives of health workers and patients. “Obviously, this is disappointing. Canadians expect and deserve more than this.” Duclos said that instead of allowing health ministers to engage in meaningful discussions, prime ministers “forced” them to focus only on money. “We need to work together so that patients across Canada can get the care they need, when they need it and where they need it. These are fundamental priorities we all agreed on. Because premiers won’t leave health to us ministers are working on these priorities;”. The premiers also reiterated their call for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with them. Dix said a national conference is also needed on Transporting Health Canada, the federal money available to all jurisdictions. Duclos said he told health ministers the federal government would provide targeted funding for priorities they have expressed over many months. “We’ve had a total of 11 virtual meetings in the last year, plus this one in person,” he said. “But we need to all come together and articulate those priorities and then move on to the next step, which is to define the kind of funding and the agenda we want to work on collectively.” Dix said the meetings came to a “disappointing” end and that provincial and territorial ministers could not move forward based on what he called “little sound bites from the premier.” “Fairly, they didn’t like the premiers reiterating their position on health devolution in Canada. This is perfectly fair for the federal government to do in its expression. But I think it’s disappointing. I’m not sure it sends the best message,” he said. “We need the federal government to increase its role and support public health care and not, as has been the case for too long, reduce that role.” The federal government has made funding agreements with individual jurisdictions in the past. In August 2017, provinces and territories signed an agreement to improve access to home and community care, as well as mental health and addictions services. Quebec signed a different agreement different from these priorities. The tailored deals involved a total of $11 billion in funding per capita over 10 years. Haizhen Mou, a professor of public policy at the University of Saskatchewan, said those deals suggest Ottawa could tie further cash to other areas of health care, including improved conditions for a depleted workforce and measures such as streamlining hiring internationally trained doctors and nurses. “The federal government could do a lot if it made this health workforce problem a national priority. They’ve already done that on some other issues,” he said. Although health care is the responsibility of the provinces and territories, Mou said they would do well to provide some accountability for how they spend money, especially if it is not directed at specific areas. “Our health care system lacks accountability. It’s not about funding or contribution share. It’s about accountability and efficiency,” he said. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and the Canadian Nurses Association said the lack of results, along with the “finger pointing” is not what they expected from the meetings. “Nurses across Canada are burned out and under intense stress, facing unprecedented pressures that have pushed them past the tipping point,” the two groups said in a joint statement. “We recognize that the federal government will need to increase money for health care in Canada, but new investments must be targeted in areas of critical need to ensure Canadians get the care they need, when they need it.” Both groups said they will request a meeting with Manitoba Premier Heather Stephenson, the federation’s president, to discuss critical measures needed to support nurses and the health care system.
“Before the meeting was even over… the prime ministers issued a statement calling the meeting a failure. This is not exactly what we would call a meaningful commitment,” Duclos continues. He blames the prime ministers, not his counterparts. He says calls for a CHT increase are “not a plan”. — Rachel Aiello (@rachaiello) November 8, 2022 The pair of plans Duclos said health ministers had been working on since February were: -Pan-Canadian Action Plan to Address Health Workforce Challenges and Support Health Workers -Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy to Improve the Quality and Safety of Care for Canadians — Rachel Aiello (@rachaiello) November 9, 2022 This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 8, 2022.
title: “Health Talks End Without Deal As Feds Walk Out " ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-31” author: “Heather Gilman”
Ministers gathered for meetings to tackle the national health crisis left on Tuesday without assurances of more funding from their federal counterpart, who accused prime ministers of giving them “marching orders” to stall negotiations. British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix, who chaired the second day of gatherings Tuesday with federal minister Jean-Yves Duclos, said the federal government withdrew from a joint statement on the talks and was excluded from a news conference. Duclos was referring to a statement issued earlier Tuesday by the Federation Council, the group representing all prime ministers, before the talks concluded. In the statement, the premiers said they were disappointed by the lack of federal response to an ongoing request from provinces and territories to get 35 per cent of health care costs covered by Ottawa, up from 22 per cent. But Duclos declined to say at a separate news conference whether he came to the table with more cash, adding only that premiers did not want health ministers to accept any conditions, such as providing data on the health care workforce. “Unfortunately, despite (Monday’s) gesture of good faith, our provincial and territorial colleagues, our colleagues, have been given marching orders by their premiers not to make further progress,” Duclos said. “As a result, prime ministers are preventing all of us health ministers from taking concrete and tangible steps that would make an immediate difference to the everyday lives of health workers and patients. “Obviously, this is disappointing. Canadians expect and deserve more than this.” Duclos said that instead of allowing health ministers to engage in meaningful discussions, prime ministers “forced” them to focus only on money. “We need to work together so that patients across Canada can get the care they need, when they need it and where they need it. These are fundamental priorities we all agreed on. Because premiers won’t leave health to us ministers are working on these priorities;”. The premiers also reiterated their call for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to meet with them. Dix said a national conference is also needed on Transporting Health Canada, the federal money available to all jurisdictions. Duclos said he told health ministers the federal government would provide targeted funding for priorities they have expressed over many months. “We’ve had a total of 11 virtual meetings in the last year, plus this one in person,” he said. “But we need to all come together and articulate those priorities and then move on to the next step, which is to define the kind of funding and the agenda we want to work on collectively.” Dix said the meetings came to a “disappointing” end and that provincial and territorial ministers could not move forward based on what he called “little sound bites from the premier.” “Fairly, they didn’t like the premiers reiterating their position on health devolution in Canada. This is perfectly fair for the federal government to do in its expression. But I think it’s disappointing. I’m not sure it sends the best message,” he said. “We need the federal government to increase its role and support public health care and not, as has been the case for too long, reduce that role.” The federal government has made funding agreements with individual jurisdictions in the past. In August 2017, provinces and territories signed an agreement to improve access to home and community care, as well as mental health and addictions services. Quebec signed a different agreement different from these priorities. The tailored deals involved a total of $11 billion in funding per capita over 10 years. Haizhen Mou, a professor of public policy at the University of Saskatchewan, said those deals suggest Ottawa could tie further cash to other areas of health care, including improved conditions for a depleted workforce and measures such as streamlining hiring internationally trained doctors and nurses. “The federal government could do a lot if it made this health workforce problem a national priority. They’ve already done that on some other issues,” he said. Although health care is the responsibility of the provinces and territories, Mou said they would do well to provide some accountability for how they spend money, especially if it is not directed at specific areas. “Our health care system lacks accountability. It’s not about funding or contribution share. It’s about accountability and efficiency,” he said. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and the Canadian Nurses Association said the lack of results, along with the “finger pointing” is not what they expected from the meetings. “Nurses across Canada are burned out and under intense stress, facing unprecedented pressures that have pushed them past the tipping point,” the two groups said in a joint statement. “We recognize that the federal government will need to increase money for health care in Canada, but new investments must be targeted in areas of critical need to ensure Canadians get the care they need, when they need it.” Both groups said they will request a meeting with Manitoba Premier Heather Stephenson, the federation’s president, to discuss critical measures needed to support nurses and the health care system.
“Before the meeting was even over… the prime ministers issued a statement calling the meeting a failure. This is not exactly what we would call a meaningful commitment,” Duclos continues. He blames the prime ministers, not his counterparts. He says calls for a CHT increase are “not a plan”. — Rachel Aiello (@rachaiello) November 8, 2022 The pair of plans Duclos said health ministers had been working on since February were: -Pan-Canadian Action Plan to Address Health Workforce Challenges and Support Health Workers -Pan-Canadian Health Data Strategy to Improve the Quality and Safety of Care for Canadians — Rachel Aiello (@rachaiello) November 9, 2022 This report by The Canadian Press was first published on November 8, 2022.
