Pallister’s obstinance wearing thin in Ottawa: source

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This article was published 14/03/2017 (3177 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Premier Brian Pallister says Ottawa is frustrating negotiations on a new health deal with Manitoba by throwing unrelated matters on the table.

The latest comment comes a day after Pallister said Ottawa has been issuing ultimatums and making threats, and as officials in Ottawa are growing weary of Pallister’s intransigence.

“I don’t think it’s helpful to link this to unrelated files,” Pallister said Tuesday. “We’re genuinely trying to keep the debate here focused on what’s the best thing to do for health care and not bring in a bunch of tangential issues that make that dialogue tougher.”

He would not say what the unrelated files are. An official from Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s office, speaking only on background, said Ottawa hasn’t introduced any unrelated matters to the talks or issued any ultimatums, such as requiring Manitoba to back Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s climate-change strategy.

“We are still willing to talk and get to a deal for Manitobans,” he said.

Another federal source said it was ironic for Pallister to complain about linking health care to unrelated matters after refusing to sign on to the climate-change plan unless Trudeau agreed to hold a first ministers’ meeting on health care.

Pallister wanted all the premiers to side with him on it but none did and the chat with Trudeau about health care was limited to a dinner conversation following the climate-change talks.

Manitoba is the only province or territory that has not yet signed a new 10-year health care deal. The plan, which includes three per cent annual increases in the Canada Health Transfer and $11.5 billion over a decade for home care and mental-health programs, was initially offered at a meeting of finance and health ministers in December but rejected by all provincial and territorial governments.

But within days, three Atlantic provinces signed side deals and all of the others — with the exception of Manitoba — have followed suit.

In addition to the funds targeted at home care and mental health, which were offered every province and territory, Pallister has asked for $60 million over a decade for chronic kidney disease, discussions on improving health-care delivery on reserves and the end of a 13-year-old funding dispute over who pays for First Nations patient transfers between health facilities.

The health deal is just the latest in a string of issues that have made for a rocky relationship between Manitoba and the federal government. The finance official indicated there is a growing fatigue in Ottawa over Pallister’s negotiating tactics.

“It’s becoming a pattern,” he said. “We can’t understand it. There is money there and we would like it to go to Manitobans.”

Officially the line from Morneau and Health Minister Jane Philpott is that everyone else has taken the deal, it’s time for Manitoba to join them.

“We’ve made an historic $11-billion offer to provide better health care for all Canadians, and we’ve been able to reach agreements with all 12 other provinces and territories,” said Philpott’s spokesman Andrew MacKendrick.

“As a result, families in every other jurisdiction in the country can look forward to better health care, particularly in the urgent priorities of mental health and home care. We know that Manitobans would also like to see the benefits from an agreement.‎”

The Manitoba government is also frustrated by Ottawa’s unwillingness thus far to discuss additional federal resources to help Manitoba cope with the recent influx of asylum-seekers from the U.S. which is stressing front-line services, including legal aid, housing and social assistance.

“We’re stretched,” he said.

Pallister said there are strains in the relationship but also said there have been files where Manitoba and Ottawa have common ground, such as reducing interprovincial trade barriers.

But he says when it comes to health care, Manitoba is not going to be a “pushover.”

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca