Premiers to hold virtual news conference

By The Canadian Press on December 9, 2022.

Canada’s premiers plan to meet virtually today, a month after talks with the federal government on health-care funding ended without an agreement.

The premiers have been calling on Ottawa to increase its share of health-care costs to 35 per cent, up from 22 per cent, and keep this level of funding going forward.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office says they are meeting to discuss health-care funding.

Last month, the federal government withdrew from a joint communique on health funding with provincial and territorial health ministers at a meeting in Vancouver.

Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said at the time that he went to the meetings “in good faith” but blamed premiers for giving their ministers “marching orders” to force negotiations to end with no deal after the premiers released a statement he says depicted the talks as a failure.

British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix had said provincial and territorial health ministers were united behind the request for increased funding made by the premiers.

At a separate news conference, Duclos would not say whether he came to the table with more money, adding only that premiers did not want health ministers to accept any conditions, like providing data on the health-care workforce.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 9, 2022.

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