‘Old union guy’ Pallister slams Ottawa’s tactics on health-care deal

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This article was published 13/03/2017 (3178 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A seething Premier Brian Pallister said Monday that intimidation and threats are no way to get a federal-provincial health-care deal done.

Pallister repeatedly refused to tell reporters if Ottawa has now set a deadline for Manitoba — the lone holdout in the country — to sign off on a new deal with the federal government.

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t care, so you’ll have to ask them if they’ve set a deadline,” Pallister said. “I’m not going to be intimidated by threats. People use techniques sometimes that they shouldn’t.”

Pallister said that Manitoba had been the leader in trying to negotiate a better deal for health-care transfers, but what started out as a united front crumbled as the other provinces and territories cut side deals one by one.

A federal source said Monday that it is “not really the case” that a hard deadline has been imposed for Manitoba to sign. However, last week it was still up in the air as to whether or not Manitoba would lose out on additional targeted money for home care and mental-health care in 2017-18 if it does not sign the deal before Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau tables his budget March 22.

If that is the ultimatum being issued, Manitoba could lose out on $41 million in 2017-18.

Pallister praised B.C. Premier Christy Clark for getting extra funding for her province’s opioid crisis. Pallister has told the federal Liberals that he wants extra funding for Manitoba to deal with indigenous health care and Canada’s highest rates of kidney disease.

Pallister wouldn’t be drawn into criticizing other provinces for leaving him as last premier standing.

“I’m an old union guy. Solidarity is what it is,” he said. “Divide and conquer is no way to negotiate health care. I’m not happy with a pick-them-off side deal on health care.”

Manitoba’s budget comes down April 11.

Ottawa’s negotiating with the provinces has not left a single province or territory with a better deal on health funding than was offered in December. That was three per cent a year in guaranteed annual increases to the Canada Health Transfer, as well as additional dollars for home care and mental health.

Ottawa offered $11.5 billion to be shared by all 10 provinces and three territories based on per capita divisions over the next decade. Manitoba’s share is in the neighbourhood of $414 million based on population, of which about $228 million would be earmarked for home care and $186 million for mental health.

Ottawa did sweeten the pot with some provinces, offering Saskatchewan one year to prove private MRI clinics are not clogging up the public waiting list, and providing Alberta and British Columbia with some money to help with the opioid crisis.

“We’ve made a 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. 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 as well,” Andrew MacKendrick, Health Minister Jane Philpott’s spokesman, said in a statement Monday night.

Pallister sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau March 1 requesting $60 million over the next 10 years for chronic kidney disease, as well as collaboration on indigenous health-care programs and an end to a 14-year-old dispute over medical transfers for First Nations residents. Manitoba says it is owed $34 million since 2003 from Ottawa for transfers of patients among health facilities.

In the legislature Monday, Pallister targeted the three-MLA Liberal caucus for not supporting him. He told the house that MLA Jon Gerrard should “stand up, stop clapping his hands for Ottawa. Stop putting partisanship ahead of the people of Manitoba.”

Manitoba stands to receive $1.355 billion from the Canada Health Transfer in 2017-18, an amount that is already written into the budget.

That is an increase of $45 million over 2016-17.

Under the 2004 health accord, provinces received annual increases of about six per cent a year. The previous Conservative government first announced its intention to change that in 2011, setting out the plan that would see the 2004 health accord extended until the end of this fiscal year. Then starting in 2017, the transfer would increase three per cent or the equivalent of national GDP growth, whichever was more. The Liberals are following that plan.

Pallister arrived in the house Monday clutching printed quotes from prominent federal Liberals who — while in opposition — slammed former prime minister Stephen Harper’s government for coming up with the plan their party is now implementing.

Meanwhile, Pallister continued to unload on Trudeau when he again implored Ottawa to help Manitoba deal with asylum-seekers before a tragedy occurs in the frozen fields at the border.

“We are all fortunate, those of us who care about humanity, that no one has died,” Pallister told reporters, appearing to choke up.

“We have a flood coming here. We have people walking down a flood plain looking for hope,” he said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca