Premiers to meet on Friday to discuss federal healthcare funding deal

After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau proposed the much-awaited 10-year healthcare  plan of the federal government with an increased $46.2 billion in new healthcare spending on Tuesday, the premiers appeared “disappointed” with the proposal, as stated by Manitoba Premier and the Head of the Council of the Federation Heather Stefanson.

All 13 premiers of Canadian Provinces and Terriroties are now scheduled to meet on Friday to discuss the proposed increase in funding and possibly decide whether to accept the deal.

“It’s significantly less than what we’re looking for…We just received that proposal today…We’ve only had it for a couple of hours”, Stefanson has previously stated about the proposal, adding that the provinces would take time to examine the proposal before passing a judgement about the same.

Echoing similar sentiments, Ontario Premier Doug Ford stated, “It’s a down payment on further discussions.”

It may be pertinent to note that the premiers, who had been demanding the healthcare funding meeting for the past few months, were advocating for a $28 billion increase to the CHT per province per year.

Taking about the scheduled meeting on Friday with media outlets,Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said, “Not everybody is on the same page but we’re having a meeting on Friday and I’d like to move quickly”, adding that while he was “not perfectly OK” with the federal govenrmet’s proposal,  he sees “a couple of real wins in this.”

Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre stated that while the funds were not adequate, a conservative government led by him would honour the deal.

“Yesterday, [ PM Trudeau] announced sums that are not adequate, according to the premiers, to fix the health-care damage that has emerged under eight years of Trudeau…Obviously, a future Conservative government led by myself will keep in place these additional sums and honour the commitments made yesterday,” Poilievre stated.