Trudeau says provinces need to ‘step up’ as health funding talks begin

As negotiations begin on Ottawa’s multi-billion health funding offer, PM Justin Trudeau says it’s time provinces use more of their own surplus budgets to support health workers.

As federal officials begin negotiations with the provinces on Ottawa’s multi-billion health funding offer, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says it’s time provinces and territories “step up” and use more of their own surplus budget dollars to support health-care workers.

During a question-and-answer session with a class of nursing students in Ottawa Friday, Trudeau was peppered with queries about why nurses and other health workers are not offered higher wages, free tuition and other supports, given they have been working under extreme conditions over the last two years of the pandemic and are now dealing with the strain of nationwide staffing shortages.

Trudeau told them the federal government took on the lion’s share of the financial costs and debt of the COVID-19 pandemic so provinces didn’t have to.

That’s why it’s now time for provinces and territories to start putting more of their own money into measures that help nurses and other health-care staff, Trudeau said.

“The provinces are largely in surplus situations. They can now lean in on improving the conditions of learning, the conditions of work, the conditions of pay that they control for nurses and for health-care professionals,” he said.

He noted that earlier this week, Ottawa put forward a $196-billion, 10-year funding package for health care for the provinces — of which $46 billion is new — and some of this money will go toward supporting, retaining and recruiting health workers.

But salaries for health workers, tuition fees and working conditions for these employees are provincially managed and regulated, and Ottawa can’t tell the provinces what to do, Trudeau said.

However, federal officials will be using the negotiations with provinces and territories on the health funding deal to try to push them to use some of this new money and more of their own funds toward helping make the lives of health workers easier, he said.