Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he’s committed to working with the provinces to ease some of the “real pressures” on Canada’s health care system, but any new investments must deliver results for Canadians. Trudeau said at a news conference Wednesday no other prime minister in history has met with premiers to discuss health care as many times as he has in the past two years, and said he will continue to work with them to reduce wait times for a family doctor, cover surgical delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and improve mental health support, but would not say whether that coordination would involve an increase in health transfers. Significant gaps in the health care system – categorized by many health professionals as a system in crisis – were the focus of a meeting of premiers in Victoria, BC this week. Premiers criticized the Prime Minister as they pushed for a permanent increase in federal health transfers. They estimate that the federal government accounts for about 22 per cent of health care costs for every Canadian, an amount they want to increase to 35 per cent. “Yes, the federal government will be there, but our focus – every step of the way, and Canadians across the country, in every province, will understand – is to make sure that those dollars that we’re putting in actually deliver, tangible results for Canadians, in shorter wait times, better services, access to a family doctor, and that’s why we’re pushing and that’s why we’re continuing to talk to the provinces,” Trudeau said. British Columbia Premier John Horgan hosted this year’s meeting of premiers in their first face-to-face meeting since the start of the pandemic. “It’s not about coming in with our bowl and saying, ‘Please, sir, give us some more,’” Horgan said Tuesday, referring to “Oliver Twist.” Trudeau said past investments in health care by the federal and provincial governments have not always yielded needed long-term improvements to the system. “Coming out of this pandemic, we have an opportunity not just to invest more, which we will, but to make sure that those investments are felt by families, by seniors, by people who need services, mental health, but also by those heroes of the system: the nurses, doctors, clerks and hospital workers who have been weakened, burned out and challenged by it,” Trudeau said. “Yes, the federal government will be there to invest in health care, but we’re going to make sure those investments pay off for Canadians,” he also said. The federal government pledged to send the provinces $2 billion in health supplements in March. However, as The Canadian Press reported, funding intended to reduce surgical and diagnostic delays has not yet been transferred.
