Signature missing on health deal

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This article was published 31/03/2019 (2000 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

UPDATE: Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen signed the federal health accord three days before claiming he hadn’t done so. Read our updated story here.

OTTAWA — The Pallister government has failed to meet Health Canada’s target date, today, to sign the 2016 health deal that would unlock millions in funding for mental health programs and home care.

“I don’t think hiding your signing pen for as long as possible is a productive use of time, on the part of the premier,” NDP Leader Wab Kinew said.

On Feb. 1, the Free Press revealed that Manitoba had not yet signed the health accord that it had agreed to in August 2017, after a months-long battle with the federal government. Premier Brian Pallister was the last premier to endorse the terms of the accord.

Health Canada wrote last month that talks were “progressing well” with Manitoba, Alberta and Nunavut toward signing the final agreement, which the department “expected to be concluded by March 31, 2019.”

None of the three jurisdictions has signed a deal.

Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen declined to be interviewed Friday. Instead, he released a statement that doesn’t explain the reason for the delay.

“Dialogue with federal officials on the bilateral agreement has been productive,” Friesen wrote. “We look forward to updating Manitobans when these negotiations conclude.”

Kinew noted that Alberta is in the midst of an election, which he said could have delayed that province from signing on. Meanwhile, Nunavut has changed its premier twice since accepting Ottawa’s health deal in January 2017.

“We’re the only province that hasn’t signed on without a reasonable excuse,” he said. “It just doesn’t make sense, given the condition of health care in Manitoba.”

The Liberals put up cash for mental health and home care programs in late 2016 to sweeten its deal to cut transfer payments to the provinces, in an attempt to control expenditures. The Trudeau government has curtailed the rise of the health-care transfers to provinces to three per cent, representing a $2.25-billion drop in what Manitoba would have otherwise received over the coming decade, which Pallister has called “dangerous.”

Internal documents show Manitoba’s share of the mental-health and home care funding amounts to $410.5 million over 11 years, with just over half going for home care.

While the Liberals pushed out the first year of funding, the remaining decade of funding starts today, and is contingent on provinces singing two agreements that run until 2027. They require the provinces to report how they use the funding.

Kinew accused Pallister of “turning down additional money” for health care, although the province has stressed it fully intends to get its allotment. Still, Kinew said the federal Liberals are heading into an election in the fall and will be unable to handle most government business during the campaign. If they lose, another party would take power and could axe unclaimed funding, he warned.

“It’s a question about certainty, and it’s a question about predictability for health care in Manitoba,” Kinew said.

The outstanding $399.6 million is part of $1.9 billion in federal cash for Manitoba that Ottawa said the Pallister government has failed to sign off on or submit claims for. Some of the money is earmarked for infrastructure and housing.

In recent weeks, Pallister and federal Manitoba cabinet minister Jim Carr have clashed over that funding. Kinew called that unsightly.

“Both the Liberals and Pallister could be doing better here. What we ought to see is both groups stepping up to deliver health care for the people of Manitoba,” he said.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca