B.C. had to move on, minister says of federal health care deal
'It became increasingly clear that this is what Ottawa was going to offer,' says B.C health minister
British Columbia's Health Minister Terry Lake says the province's decision to sign a bilateral health care deal with Ottawa is the best it can do given the federal government's tough negotiating stance.
On Friday, B.C. signed a 10-year health care deal with over $1 billion dollars targeted to home care and mental-health initiatives. In a separate announcement, the federal government also put forward $10 million to help B.C. fight the opioid crisis.
Before the deal was signed B.C. was one of several of provinces including Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba holding out for a better deal on the level of annual funding.
"It became increasingly clear that this is what Ottawa was going to offer," Lake said on CBC's The Early Edition.
"My conversations with Ontario in particular reinforced the feeling that we were certainly getting from Ottawa that there was no more money to be offered and at some point, we had to move on."
Lake, who described Ottawa as a "tough negotiator", said the targeted money will help British Columbia continue its efforts to make a more efficient healthcare system.
"We have made great efforts to move the system away from the acute care system so we can support people in home and community. That will reduce our costs over time," he said. "So with this targeted funding in home care, in mental health, in substance abuse supports, we can catch people before they tip over the edge."
Less than we need?
While the B.C. Health Coalition coordinator Terrie Hendrickson was pleased more money was going to home care, mental health and the opioid crisis, she said the funding deal fell short billions of dollars.
"The B.C. government is getting less than we actually need to just maintain our services — never mind improve our services in areas that we need to improve it in," she said.
She was particularly critical of the yearly percentage increases agreed to in the deal. The provincial government will receive 4.4 per cent by year three of the agreement, instead of the original 5.2 per cent it sought.
"All of the information that we have shows that the health care system needs at least an annual increase of 5.2 per cent and that's just to maintain the current system that we have now," she said.
Terry Lake defended the numbers by saying it was "certainly better" than the three per cent base initially offered by the federal government.
"Of course I would have like to have more money. There's no question about it," he said.
"It is what it is and we have to go forward because we've got to get programming on the ground to address the needs of British Columbians."
With files from The Early Edition
To listen to the interview, click on the link labelled Health Minister Terry Lake defends health care deal and B.C. federal health care deal short on funding, critic says