Table of Contents
This column is an opinion by Tom McIntosh, a professor of politics and intercontinental reports at the University of Regina. For more facts about CBC’s Impression segment, please see the FAQ.
The key minister’s statement on Jan. 16 that there were being “good measures forward” towards breaking the prolonged-standing deadlock in the discussion about health and fitness treatment funding must come as welcome news to Canadians.
In individual, each the PM and some of the premiers seem to be intent on moving away from the standard federal-provincial-territorial debate around regardless of whether new federal investments in well being should come with “problems” or “strings.” Rather the talk was of “shared priorities.”
With a overall health-care system increasingly admitted to remaining in crisis and a reigniting discussion in excess of personal supply and quite possibly private payment for some products and services, this is good information in a plan region in determined have to have of some.
Indeed, the provinces and the federal government by now know how to recast the discussion over “strings” and “disorders” mainly because they have accomplished it in advance of. Initially with the 2017 overall health care agreements and then again in the intergovernmental baby-care funding agreements signed in the earlier number of many years.
In 2017 the federal, provincial and territorial governments signed an umbrella statement of principles earning the substantive reform of psychological health and local community-based care key priorities in Canada’s well being procedure. The federal govt then signed unique bilateral agreements with every province and territory indicating, with different degrees of specificity, how they would expend their share of an further $11.5 billion in wellness expending to obtain those people aims.
Sad to say, the world wide COVID-19 pandemic knocked health and fitness-care methods across the world for a loop, derailing reform efforts and focusing our notice somewhere else. But a once-in-a-century calamity should not be taken as an sign that the model was necessarily faulty at its core.
A really-fractured system
This tactic to intergovernmental diplomacy experienced the advantage of recognizing that the provinces had been in distinct areas in phrases of how they developed and delivered services. As the president of the Canadian Health care Affiliation, Dr. Alika Lafonfaine, recently argued, the system is extremely fractured, operates in silos and lacks coordination.
As we know from the relative failure of the 2004 Well being Accord — the so-known as “repair for a generation” — only agreeing to transfer huge sums of funds in furtherance of serious change has not worked. The existing provincial need for a $28 billion unconditional enhance in the Canada Health and fitness Transfer (CHT) would do minimal to clear up the system’s difficulties.
Certainly, there is superior cause to feel that putting that total of dollars into the system without having distinct and distinct aims about what 1 would like to accomplish may possibly only make the situation worse.
It is easy to see billions of bucks wasted as provincial and territorial governments compete against every other for scarce overall health human methods, succeeding in only bidding up the price of health-treatment employees.
But if the governments begin with shared priorities — say, for example, a coordinated technique to health and fitness human-source arranging, the administration of wait around moments and the expansion of main wellbeing-care teams — and then established about outlining how each individual authorities would use their share of any new money to more all those objectives, then there could be some optimism about affecting true alter in these services.
The splendor of the bilateral design is that it avoids the question of “federal strings” by allowing for provinces to dedicate to how they will go their services in the direction of the shared ambitions. In other phrases, the provinces set the ailments them selves, customized to replicate the particular scenario of just about every province and territory.
Obvious and transparent reporting
Of study course, the sticking stage will be how we assess irrespective of whether improve is going on. This would have to have the provinces and territories to concur to deliver crystal clear and clear reporting to their people about how the income was used (one thing that was unfortunately lacking from the 2017 bilateral agreements).
In December, Nova Scotia Leading Tim Houston indicated a willingness to make these a dedication and Ontario’s Doug Ford and Quebec’s François Legault produced equivalent pledges.
As of but, no 1 knows regardless of whether what Canadians will see will be yet another “grand deal” like in 2004, or whether or not the bilateral deals of 2017 will be the template. But as is usually the case in intergovernmental diplomacy, what may well appear like a very last minute offer that went down to the wire was in reality the result of significantly extra driving-the-scenes negotiating than we understood at the time.
Irrespective, what have to occur out of the offer is serious, substantive and measurable improve. Bilateral agreements about a shared approach may well be the finest way to get there. Otherwise Canada’s public wellness method may possibly under no circumstances recover.
Do you have a powerful viewpoint that could add insight, illuminate an difficulty in the news, or adjust how persons think about an difficulty? We want to hear from you. Here’s how to pitch to us.