Commentary

The First Ministers’ Meeting on Health Care

A motley crew gathered in Ottawa last week, supposedly to solve the problem of health care for Canadians. Described by reporters as one of the most acrimonious first ministers’ meetings in over two decades, the health care conference had all the drama and intrigue of a soap opera. There were broken alliances, back-room negotiations after public discussions, all-night bargaining sessions and the stormy exit of Alberta premier Ralph Klein, who left early to return to Alberta for pre-election campaigning.

Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams (nicknamed Danny Millions in his home province and said to be personally on very good terms with Prime Minister Paul Martin, a fellow millionaire) described the federal government’s health care offer as a “disgrace” and called the conference a farce, while federal Health Minister Ujal Dosanjh floated around giving interviews proclaiming the talks were going fine, and Paul Martin spoke a great deal and said very little.

As expected, the provinces and federal government have come to a last minute agreement on health care, including a separate agreement between the federal government and Quebec. All parties are claiming the deal, which will see a few billion dollars more than previously budgeted flow to the provinces for health care spending over the next six years, is an historic advance for Canadians.

Absent from the deal is the creation of a national pharmacare program, which the provinces had originally pushed for. Also absent is federal control over how health care dollars are spent, which is something the federal government had been pushing for.

Given Canada’s aging population and the increasing shortage of primary care doctors, nurses and other health professionals, it is unlikely this much-heralded health care deal will solve any problems. Indeed, the moneys committed under the first six years of the deal are not even sufficient to keep existing problems at bay.

More and more, the histrionics over health care seem designed to convince Canadians there is no solution for the health care crisis without either bankrupting the public treasury or moving to a two-tier health care system. The question of whether or not Canadians have a right to a public health care system is not even posed – no wonder, then, that survey after survey has found Canadians have no confidence in politicians to solve the problems in the health care field.

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