Still 'lots of work to do' before federal-provincial health deal is finalized, Duclos says
CTV
Despite increasing indications from other key players that the federal government is nearing an agreement with the provinces for increased health-care funding in exchange for improvements to the system, federal Health Minister Jean Yves-Duclos says there is 'still lots of work to do' before reaching a deal.
Despite increasing indications from other key players that the federal government is nearing an agreement with the provinces for increased health-care funding in exchange for improvements to the system, federal Health Minister Jean Yves-Duclos says there is "still lots of work to do" before reaching a deal.
Seeming to pour some cold water on the prospect of being very close to an agreement on increasing the Canada Health Transfer, Duclos told reporters on Tuesday that it's something both sides will have to keep working on "in the weeks to come."
"Lots of work still needs to be done before we come to an agreement on the importance of those results and how we're going to achieve them," Duclos said, speaking about five categories of health-care improvements the federal government wants to see tied to any funding boost.
The five metrics Duclos said the federal government wants the provinces to commit to results on are:
"So yes, we are all looking forward to a final agreement at some point, but we are all very mindful and there is still lots of work to do before we get there," Duclos said.
Asked on Monday about the status of the talks and getting provinces to sign on to an agreement with strings attached — which some premiers have recently voiced a willingness to do — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he's looking forward to "being able to announce positive steps forward in the very near future."
More to come.
