Noticeable in his absence from the last sitting of the legislature on Dec. 10 was Premier Scott Moe. He was sitting in another large room in the building, however, taking part in the Council of the Federation meeting, made up of the the prime minister, provincial and territorial premiers. Moe did this from the cabinet room, which, from pictures posted on his social media, was noticeably empty save a screen on the wall.
Moe said in the afternoon, “This morning, we discussed the vaccines and vaccine rollout. it was good to hear from Maj.-Gen. Fortin, and to you know, listen to the orders that he has put in, and the reliability of supply that we have over the course of the first quarter, but also to understand the variability that is built into whether we could access potentially more vaccines or even the variability in some of the supply chain that is there. So that was a productive morning.
“We're also, I think, encouraged to hear the Prime Minister has indicated that as far as the actual cost of the vaccines, the federal government will be covering that. The provinces will continue to cover the actual distribution and vaccination program for all Canadians respectively, through the 10 provinces and three territories. So, it is a cost share agreement that is much closer to 50/50 cost share than previous vaccination programs.”
As for the broader funding of health care, Moe said, “This afternoon, then we had a discussion on the Canada Health Transfer, and to really have a discussion with the federal government about opportunity that the federal government has to be an equitable partner in health care delivery across this nation. That Canada Health Care Transfer began in 1957, as a 50/50 partnership between the federal government and the provinces. It has since, through successive governments, slipped down to a level where I believe right now, we are at about 22 per cent federal funding of the costs of health care, on average, across the nation.
“What the provinces have asked is for that to be brought back to 35 per cent, for the federal share to be brought back to a 35 per cent of healthcare funding costs, so that ultimately would be about a $28 billion annualized ask.
No such luck yet
The provinces have asked, but they have not yet received that additional funding. Moe said, “We're disappointed with the progress that was made at this meeting with the prime minister specific to the ask that all 13 premiers had agreed to input before him, but we are also encouraged that there was an acknowledgement that the federal government does need to do more when it comes to funding health care, specifically through the Canada Health Transfer.
“And we were encouraged that and hopeful that the premiers and the prime minister will be able to again regroup at some point in the new year to discuss this very important topic. I think, a topic that has been identified as being even more important and that is a sustainable sustainability of our healthcare system across this nation and the need for the federal government to ensure that they are stepping forward and this is what is a generational opportunity to become an equitable partner, or a more equitable partner in delivering that health care to Canadians.”
Moe said the premiers have asked the current $42 billion per year Canada Health Transfer be increased by $28 billion, to a total of $70 billion per year.
“There was no discussion around where the federal government may land on that. We're hopeful that discussion could occur in the new year. But as I say, we were encouraged to with respect to the openness of the prime minister, in stating that this is an area where the federal government does need to have a look,” he said.
When asked about federal spending to support Canadians through the COVID-19 pandemic, Moe said, “Not to critique individual programs, but on a whole the federal government, and I think the many provinces, Saskatchewan is thankful that the federal government has stepped into an area and has done what they can to support workers, support jobs and support Canadians in many ways, here, not only in Saskatchewan, but across the nation.
“That comes with a cost, very large costs, as we've seen, and as I said, I'm not going to go into specific programs. But in general, the federal government has very much stepped into that space of supporting Canadians through this COVID pandemic, very serious pandemic, likely the generational challenge that we are seeing over the course of the last 20 or 30 years, for sure. So that has created a deficit that they have. But those are also one-time costs that the federal government has. What we're talking about here today, is ongoing, annualized sustainable funding for our health care delivery system across the nation.”
He noted that every 15 to 20 years, this sort of re-evaluation has taken place. In 2004, based on the Roy Romanow report on health care across the country, a six per cent escalator in funding was put in place for 10 years, in addition to a “fairly substantial cash injection” in that year. Currently the increases to the Canada Health Transfer are three to four per cent, he said.
Moe pointed out health care has evolved and grown to include long-term care, mental health, occupational therapy and various other therapies. “But I would also say that across this nation, we have seen COVID has exposed some of the challenges that we have in our healthcare system. They're different in different areas of the nation. But I would say that there has been some exposed and I would say that this is an opportunity for the federal government to step in, in a very real way to become a funding partner, a more equitable funding partner with the provinces so that the provinces can address whatever those concerns may be, in our respective jurisdictions.”
Health care is now about 42 per cent of Saskatchewan’s budget, the lion’s share, according to Moe.
