The provincial common front to increase federal health transfers remains intact despite Doug Ford’s openness to the conditions Justin Trudeau wants to impose, argues François Legault.
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While provincial premier leaders have always refused to increase federal health benefits under certain conditions, the Ontario premier now seems ready to pour some water in his wine.
Indeed, during his first-ever press conference of the year, Doug Ford hinted that the least of his concerns was the accountability the Trudeau administration wanted.
François Legault, who has had the opportunity to speak to Mr Ford in recent weeks, sees no sign of a break with the common front of the Canadian provinces, which he believes will remain here.
“We want to keep the common front because it has served us well and should continue to serve us well in the future,” said the CAQ leader.
data already available
François Legault believes his Ontario counterpart is on the same page as him. “As far as I know, Doug Ford and I have agreed to provide the data [sur leurs réseaux de santé]commented Mr. Legault.
“This data is already being sent to citizens and is available to everyone, so I don’t see much of a problem sending it to Ottawa,” he added.
After meeting Justin Trudeau a few days before Christmas, François Legault expressed more optimism than ever about a possible agreement with Ottawa to increase health transfers, which the provinces want to increase by 22% to 35%.
“What I understood from my meeting with Justin Trudeau is that we were no longer talking about terms, we were talking about dates,” Mr. Legault recalled.
No meeting on his agenda
While there are rumors of an agreement that could be sealed during a meeting in mid-February, François Legault says it is not on his agenda at the moment.
“No. I wish it. I wish it,” Mr. Legault replied when questioned on the matter.
However, he hopes that an agreement will be reached “in the coming weeks” so that the new health funds can be included in the federal budget this spring.
On the sidelines of a press conference in Shawinigan, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent positive signals about a possible health transfer agreement.
“There is still a lot of work to be done, but we believe there is very positive momentum as we become more focused on investing in health systems,” said Mr. Trudeau.
– With the collaboration of Guillaume St-Pierre