Baloney Meter: Is the federal government cutting health transfers to provinces?
OTTAWA — “For today we know that there will be a cut of $60 billion of funding from the federal government over the next 10 years regarding the delivery of care. And that implies that all provinces and territories will have to make difficult choices, because we are being asked to do more with less.” — Quebec Health Minister Gaetan Barrette speaking Tuesday in Toronto.
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Ever since former federal Conservative finance minister Jim Flaherty announced to his shocked provincial counterparts in 2011 that Ottawa would be unilaterally imposing a new formula for the Canada Health Transfer in 2017, there have been cries about looming federal “cuts” to health funding.
The Conservative government pronounced that annual six per cent funding increases in place since 2004-05 would be reduced to an annual increase of three per cent, or to nominal growth in the economy, whichever was higher.