Canada’s federal and provincial politicians are spending a lot of effort on deflecting responsibility for health care, rather than taking it on – let’s hope we won’t get fooled again
Quebec Premier François Legault was smart to fire up language and cultural issues in an election year, because he sure doesn’t want voters talking about his province’s stretched health care system. Ontario Premier Doug Ford was also keen to keep talk about health care to a minimum in the campaign that won him re-election in June.
The premiers will be out to repeat their call for a massive, $28-billion-a-year increase in federal funding for health care. The feds will say they are willing to put in more money – though nothing like the whopping figures the provinces seek – as long as provinces agree to channel it for specific purposes.
The premiers’ enormous $28-billion demand is so big it makes you wonder if the goal is making sure Ottawa can be blamed. For ordinary Canadians, fiscal federalism – whether you pay for health care via your federal or provincial taxes – doesn’t matter as much as doctors and nurses. Yet premiers keep suggesting better health care depends only on more federal money.
Premiers are already complaining Ottawa doesn’t pay for a big enough share of health costs, yet when Mr. Trudeau woos voters by promising an additional $5-billion a year for a $230-billion-a-year health care system, he wants a say in where the money goes. There is a perennial fight about whether federal health funding comes with strings attached.
The catch will be a desire to see provinces report on the how the money is spent, but as long as the reporting is for the public, and not federal bureaucrats, it can only be a good thing.
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