FREDERICTON -- New Brunswick has reached its own agreement on health care funding with the federal government, and Premier Brian Gallant says he hopes other provinces are able to do the same.
Gallant said he was hoping a pan-Canadian deal would have been reached, but is pleased and relieved a deal has been reached for his province. New Brunswick is the first province to strike a deal after provinces and territories rejected a federal offer Monday.
"Today's agreement ensures that we can receive funding for home care and mental health this spring that might otherwise have been delayed or lost," Gallant told a news conference in Fredericton Thursday.
The deal includes $230 million in additional funding over 10 years for health care and programs for seniors.
"It's exactly what we needed and exactly what we wanted," Gallant said.
Annual Canada Health Transfer payments to the province will increase by three per cent per year or the rate of national GDP growth, whichever is higher. Gallant said that's worth an estimated $1.2 billion over 10 years for New Brunswick.
The federal government had offered a flat increase of 3.5 per cent, but Gallant said his province's deal is better. He said projections for GDP growth should mean approximately a 4.1 per cent increase in the health transfers.
Gallant said he's not concerned his province is going first, because the agreement includes a clause ensuring that if any other province gets a deal with better financial terms, New Brunswick can adopt those terms.
"Putting in this clause was crucial for us to sign this agreement," Gallant said.
Quebec's health minister has criticized New Brunswick, saying Gallant has reduced the chances of a pan-Canadian deal by going out on his own.
"NB chooses to accept reduction of fed funding from 23.3% to 20% but also rely on other provinces to fight for a better offer," Gaetan Barrette wrote in a tweet Thursday.
But Gallant is quick to brush off the remarks.
"The irony is beyond me. If another province would go into Quebec to tell Quebecers and the Quebec government how they should do health care and how they should negotiate with the federal government, I think we all know what the reaction of the Quebec government would be," Gallant said.
Gallant was also critical of some other provinces and territories that he said didn't appear to be serious about reaching a deal.
"Maybe it's just because they had a sense that they weren't going to get a compromise with the feds or weren't going to get what they wanted. What their strategy is, is for them to explain. We arrived looking for a deal," Gallant said.
He said New Brunswick's deal includes 10 years of funding for mental health and home care, but it's too soon to say if the funding will be spread equally over each year. He said that still has to be negotiated, and will hinge on the financial burden on the federal government once it negotiates deals with the rest of the provinces.
The federal offer would have poured an additional $25 billion over the next five years into health care, with a chunk of that specifically targeted for mental health and home care.
While that offer is now off the table and the federal government has given up hope of striking a national deal on health funding, federal officials say they are still committed to making big investments in home care and mental health.
It is continuing to negotiate with individual provinces and territories -- as many as five or six of which appear to be having second thoughts about walking away Monday from the federal offer.
"Today, Premier Gallant made a decision that is very good news for the people of New Brunswick," said federal Health Minister Jane Philpott. "I want to thank Premier Gallant and our provincial counterparts in New Brunswick for their vision and leadership."
