Canada is back. Back, that is, to staged B次元官网网址渘egotiationsB次元官网网址� between Ottawa and the provinces that end up with policies unilaterally imposed by Ottawa.
The return of this time-worn charade was best revealed when provincial environment ministers convened recently with Catherine McKenna, CanadaB次元官网网址檚 minister of environment and climate change.
As B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak and others were pulling up their chairs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rose from his in the House of Commons and announced his escalating B次元官网网址渃arbon priceB次元官网网址� policy will be imposed on provinces if they donB次元官网网址檛 do it voluntarily. Some provincial ministers walked out.
Then it was the turn of health ministers. To avoid another ugly scene in front of TV cameras, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott let it be known well before the meeting that the free-spending Trudeau government will be keeping the Stephen Harper governmentB次元官网网址檚 restricted formula for health transfer payments.
Two of HarperB次元官网网址檚 many sins were refusing to conduct fake negotiations with premiers in areas of federal jurisdiction, and rolling back annual increases in health care transfers from six per cent each year to about half of that.
Harper sent his finance minister, the late Jim Flaherty, all the way out to Victoria in 2011 to break the news. The formula, in response to an extended period of low economic growth and low inflation, also ends targeted funding for selected wait-listed surgical procedures and bases transfers on population only.
When it was announced, provinces east of Saskatchewan had anxiety attacks. ManitobaB次元官网网址檚 health minister called it B次元官网网址渦n-Canadian.B次元官网网址� OntarioB次元官网网址檚 warned that it would B次元官网网址渄estabilize the federation.B次元官网网址�
Now, as with international climate change policy, Trudeau is carrying on with HarperB次元官网网址檚 plan.
In the 2015 federal election campaign, unions ran ads accusing Harper of a $30 billion B次元官网网址渃utB次元官网网址� to health care transfers. This fictitious cut is based on six per cent annual increases that were arbitrarily promised by former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, and have continued up until this year. Martin called this unsustainable plan to pour in ever-increasing cash B次元官网网址渇ixing health care for a generation.B次元官网网址�
In his 2015 campaign, Trudeau promised to put an additional $3 billion towards health care, and negotiate a new agreement with provinces. That B次元官网网址渘egotiationB次元官网网址� is over now.
Oh, and the $3 billion is coming, but it must be spent on home care services. Philpott was under pressure in the House of Commons last week, arguing that the previous Conservative government put lots more money into health care but didnB次元官网网址檛 change the system. It needs to be B次元官网网址渢ransformed,B次元官网网址� she said.
Cue the outrage, in Quebec especially, as Ottawa tries to direct the key provincial jurisdiction of health care.
Philpott, a physician herself, is right. Dr. Granger Avery, the former Port McNeill family doctor who now heads the Canadian Medical Association, agrees.
Indeed, the CMA has long argued that Canada still has a post-war acute care model in a country dominated by chronic care patients.
B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake and his predecessors have argued that the federal formula should account for the share of retirees, who are by far the biggest users of health care.
Nova Scotia health minister Leo Glavine described the situation best last week.
B次元官网网址淲e have the oldest demographic in the country, but when I look at that demographic, the big cohort is 53 to 68,B次元官网网址� Glavine said. B次元官网网址淎nd itB次元官网网址檚 not just the age of the population, it's also a cohort with an extreme number of chronic conditions.B次元官网网址�
ThatB次元官网网址檚 the real issue. The back end of the baby boom, my generation, is the big end. And we havenB次元官网网址檛 taken good care of ourselves.
Tom Fletcher is B.C. legislature reporter and columnist for Black Press. Email: tfletcher@blackpress.ca Twitter: @tomfletcherbc
