Ottawa, Nova Scotia close to finalizing bilateral health funding deal

Nova Scotia and Ottawa could be weeks away from finalizing the terms of a bilateral agreement for more health-care funding, says federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

LeBlanc and federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos were in Halifax Monday to meet with Premier Tim Houston and Nova Scotia Health Minister Michelle Thompson to discuss the proposed agreement.

"We don't expect in Nova Scotia this to be a difficult or complicated process," LeBlanc told reporters following the meeting.

"The premier wants this to move quickly. He was very clear with us that he wants to move quickly. So do we."

The meeting came on the same day Canada's premiers announced they would accept a proposal from the federal government for an increase in the Canada Health Transfer as part of a 10-year deal that will see $46.2 billion in new money flow to the provinces and territories.

The bilateral agreements with provinces and territories are intended to provide additional, targeted funding to help with key issues. Nova Scotia's agreement would see an additional $102 million from Ottawa each year. That's on top of the increase of $52 million it will receive as part of the boosted federal health transfer.

Thompson said knowing the bilateral money will last for 10 years also helps with long-term planning to improve the health-care system.

Ottawa's priorities for how the bilateral money should be used aligns with areas the province was already targeting, she told reporters.

"We want to look at investment in workforce. We want to look at primary care, access to surgery, being accountable and having … real-time data so that we can make decisions."

The minister said she's confident, based on Monday's meeting, that the new money from Ottawa will be ready to be included in the upcoming provincial budget.

Opposition politicians said there are many areas where the additional funding could be used, although some jump out in particular.

"We need to figure out why full-time nurses are going part time now," Liberal health critic Brendan Maguire said in an interview.

"We have to figure out why we have so many health-care professionals on long-term and short-term disability. We have to do things to actually incentivize people to stay here in Nova Scotia and that means being a little creative."

The Liberals issued a news release Monday pointing out that the Tory government is all but certain to fall short of its promise to get surgical wait times in line with national benchmarks by this month.

Meanwhile, the provincial health authority is expected later this week to release an updated tally on the number of people without a family doctor or nurse practitioner.

NDP health critic Susan Leblanc said that at a time when the list is reaching record highs — it was almost 130,000 last month — the government needs to do everything it can to ensure people are receiving care when they need it.

Leblanc said her party is calling on the government to expand the use of collaborative care clinics, which employ doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and other health-care professionals.

"We know that it will save money in the long run, it will save suffering and it's what's expected," she said in an interview.

"We can use virtual care, we can use mobile clinics, but the fact is that everyone needs to have someone that they're attached to where they can go for their primary care needs."