By James Peters / Chad Harris

Lake calls for Trudeau, first ministers to intervene in health transfer deadlock

Oct 18, 2016 | 4:55 PM

TORONTO — BC Health Minister Terry Lake says he doesn’t believe the country’s health ministers can reach a consensus on transfer payments without intervention from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the nation’s premiers.

Lake says the federal government is sticking to the former Harper government’s decision to cut the increase in health transfer payments from six per cent to three per cent.

“We do not have a consensus about the amount of money the federal government is contributing to the cost of health care across Canada. We think probably first ministers and the prime minister will have to get together to hammer this out because we really can’t go forward without the confidence of a sustainable funding formula.”

Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott has taken the provinces to task for failing to be accountable with money they get from Ottawa.

But Lake says he doesn’t buy that argument.

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“The Canada health transfer last year to B.C. was about $4.2 billion, and [the province’s health] budget is over $18 billion, so you know that every single penny that comes from the federal government is going into health care services. So I don’t buy that argument at all.”

EXTRA: A by-the-numbers look at health-care funding and spending in Canada

EXTRA: Provinces, territories push against idea health funding not going to health care