During the Western Canadian premiers’ meeting, Premiers John Horgan and Scott Moe expressed their frustration that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agrees in principle to increase healthcare funding, but no action has been taken..“I know the prime minister supports that principle. But we are not talking about principles anymore, we are talking about reality hitting the road,” said Horgan..“You can have esoteric discussions in the House of Commons and the Senate. But where Scott and I live, we need to deliver the services for people. That’s how the system works … It’s all about funding and collaboration.”.“Saying now is not the time is an abdication of leadership.”.A reporter asked about the confidence level Horgan and Moe have that the Trudeau government will move on the funding issue..“We have been engaged with the federal government at senior levels. Minister LeBlanc, the minister of intergovernmental relations, Minister Duclos, the minister of health, Minister Freeland at finance is engaged behind the scenes,” said Horgan. .“There’s a range of issues that Canada and the world are dealing with. We are in the midst of a climate crisis. We have war in Europe profoundly impacting not just the people in Ukraine but right around the world … all those things are urgent but so is delivering on healthcare.”.“I am confident the federal government is going to come to the table with all the 13 premiers from across the nation and have this negotiation in good faith. And look into what they can do, yes, provide the funding so that provinces and territories can provide those services collectively to all Canadians,” said Moe..“Am I frustrated and angered at times with the fact that it has taken this long to essentially have a number of meetings about whether or not we need to have a meeting to have these negotiations? Yes, I am frustrated and do feel angered.”.Horgan discussed demographic issues that the entire country is facing as the population ages and used Victoria as an example, where the doctors are almost as old as their older patients..“Demographics are not in our favour, the worker shortage you’ve heard about in every sector of the economy is critical in healthcare and in order for us to ensure we are training enough people,” said Horgan..“In British Columbia, Victoria specifically, we have more 70-year-old doctors with panels of 80-year-old patients.” .Horgan stressed the need for stable federal funding for healthcare and asked the federal government to fund 35% of healthcare spending..“We need to have sustainable funding from Ottawa, which was there at the beginning but not there today. It’s as simple as that,” said Horgan..“Ottawa needs to get back in the game. They need to be full partners and we are not even asking for full partners. We are asking for two-thirds partners in the delivery of what is the most important national program that we have.”
