Premiers John Horgan and Scott Moe expressed they were frustrated with the federal government During the Western Canadian premiers’ meeting saying they know the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau supports it but no action has been taken.
“I know the prime minister supports that principle. But we are not talking about principles anymore, we are talking about reality hitting the road,” said Horgan.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last year the time to talk about the health transfer payments is when the pandemic is winding down. Primer John Horgan said because the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is over they are calling on Ottawa for the injection of money.
“Well we’re here today, the pandemic is waning, it’s becoming endemic, and it’s time now to have that conversation,” said Horgan, who was attending Western Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders meeting in Regina on Friday May 27, 2022,. “I would hope today would be the beginning of that commitment to come sit with us.”
“Now is the time, prime minister, now is the time for he federal government to sit down with us and plan and plot out the future of medicare, which started in this great province,” said Horgan.
Horgan explained the difference between the western province premiers and the federal government is the federal government can give a promise but the province needs to deliver, and they need the help from the feds to be able to deliver the services.
“where Scott and I, and the other premiers live, we need to deliver services for people that’s how the system works” said Horgan. He agreed with new programs and gets excited when they’re talked about but said there’s no point looking at any new programs when we are lacking in one the government currently offers.
“when I hear talk of new programs, I’m excited about that but I think back to the programs that we’re not effectively delivering today and say, how can we possibly add more when we can’t deliver what we’ve got right now” which opposes the federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singhs push for national dental care.
“We need to have sustainable funding from Ottawa, which was there at the beginning but not there today. It’s as simple as that,” said Horgan.
“Ottawa needs to get back in the game. They need to be full partners and we are not even asking for full partners. We are asking for two-thirds partners in the delivery of what is the most important national program that we have.”
With Trudeau’s promise to the premiers for the health transfers he wanted accountability for the spending.
Last year, the premiers requested a $28 billion increase in health payments from Ottawa, bringing the federal portion to 35% from 22%. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the virtual 2021 premiers’ summit that the intention is to raise the transfers, but that the topic would have to wait until the pandemic is gone.
“Yes, we respect premiers delivery on health care, but we are going to make sure that the investments the federal government puts towards health care across the country delivers results for Canadians,” Trudeau said.
On Friday, Horgan blamed the primary-care crisis largely on insufficient federal funding.
“We have shortages of general practitioners because of challenges with funding. Is it just about money? Yeah, it’s about money, because the money translates into services for people.
In Victoria, he said, “we have more 70-year-old doctors with panels of 80-year-old patients than anywhere else in the country.”
In early March 2022 a public health order was issued by the B.C. government for all healthcare workers to be vaccinated or lose their jobs. However Bonnie Henry kicked the liability to the B.C. medical colleges to collect the private medical information from their staff on behalf of Bonnie Henry.
