Feds are 'confident' there will soon be a deal on health-care funding
CBC
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said Friday there's been a breakthrough in ongoing federal-provincial talks on the future of health-care funding.
Speaking to reporters at a COVID-19 briefing, Duclos said he's "very optimistic" that some sort of deal to boost the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) will materialize soon because "there's been a change of tone, a change of direction in the last few weeks."
"There's been a great deal of progress. We need to secure investments so we can maintain the publicly funded and equitable and accessible health-care system," he said.
CBC News first reported earlier this week that Duclos said a deal for new funding is taking shape and the two sides are "increasingly aligned."
The premiers have demanded that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meet with them, face-to-face, to hammer out the final details of an agreement.
There's a sense of urgency because the premiers are eager to see any new money reflected in the upcoming spring federal budget.
Government sources told CBC News Trudeau likely won't sit down with the premiers until a deal is almost finalized.
The premiers are looking at holding meetings in Ottawa in mid-February, sources said.
They hope enough progress can be made on a deal to convince Trudeau to join the meetings.
The federal government has insisted that the provinces earmark any new funds for five priority areas — reducing surgery backlogs, enhancing primary care, expanding mental health services, fixing long-term care homes and "modernizing" the system through better virtual care and data-sharing between the provinces and Ottawa.
Some provinces, notably Quebec, have balked at the federal conditions.
But Quebec Premier François Legault signalled Wednesday he's open to giving Ottawa more data about the state of health care in his province.
He said Quebec and Ontario — the other province that has been reluctant to hand over data — are ready to cut a deal.
"It's two provinces. Two big ones," he said.
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