February 25, 2004 - Page A8
By ROD MICKLEBURGH
VANCOUVER -- Canada's universal health-care system will not survive the decade without more federal funds and meaningful reform, the country's premiers and territorial leaders warned yesterday.
In blunt language that cut across their diverse political stripes, premiers lashed out at the federal government for cutting equalization payments and running surpluses while reducing its share of provincial health-care budgets at a time when costs are rising by 7 to 10 per cent a year.
"This grave inequity means that our current system is not sustainable, the principles of the Canada Health Act are at risk and health care as we know it will not survive the end of the decade," Prince Edward Island Premier Pat Binns declared, as he read out the leaders' communiqué.
Underscoring the premiers' pessimistic assessment of the future of health care without stepped-up federal participation, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein reiterated his province's willingness to consider opting out of the Canada Health Act.
If the federal government does not boost its share of provincial health-care costs and if Ottawa refuses to negotiate significant changes to medicare, "we are willing to consider, as a province, going it alone," said Mr. Klein, the longest-serving premier.
"We are still a long way from that, but it is a consideration."
While no other premier went as far as Mr. Klein, Saskatchewan NDP Premier Lorne Calvert said the fact that "walking away" from the Canada Health Act was even discussed indicates the gravity of the situation.
"How did we come to this? The answer is quite plain . . . and this should be a significant wakeup call to all Canadians," Mr. Calvert said.
"We state today as premiers of Canada that without real reform to health-care delivery and without the affordable and sustainable financial base that can only be provided by the federal government, the health-care system as we know it will not survive the decade."
New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord also responded to Mr. Klein's shot across the federal bow.
"If the richest province in Canada feels that the system may not be sustainable as it is, you can just imagine what it means for the rest of us."
The premiers said they need sustainable funding, not special one-shot deals such as the $2-billion Ottawa recently promised, and they demanded the federal government boost its share of health costs from its current level of 16 per cent to the 25 per cent recommended by the federal report of Roy Romanow.
Mr. Calvert criticized Ottawa for failing to embrace Mr. Romanow's report, which was commissioned by the federal government to map out a blueprint for the future of medicare.
"To this day, I don't know the position of the federal government on the Romanow report."
The premiers' tough talk came at the end of the inaugural meeting here of the Council of the Federation, a more formal structure replacing what used to be known as the annual premiers conference.
They have agreed to hold a special first ministers meeting this summer, focusing specifically on long-term reform and sustainability of the universal health-care system.
Many said they were particularly irate over the expanding federal surplus, now estimated at between $5-billion and $8-billion. Yet, when they met late last month with Prime Minister Paul Martin and gratefully accepted a one-time, $2-billion federal injection of health-care money, they were told the surplus was barely over the same $2-billion mark.
"What a tragedy for Canada, where we have a federal government sitting on surpluses and then to also have a system where medicare falls apart," said Manitoba Premier Gary Doer.
In Ottawa, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale refused to commit the government to more health-care funding to the provinces.
"I understand the priority of the issue . . . but there are other pressing demands as well as the imperatives of fiscal responsibility which include our fiscal anchors. I have to try to balance all of that. But I understand very clearly what Canadians say about health care," he told the House of Commons.
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