Trudeau to host premiers Feb. 7 to hammer out health deal: sources

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will host a first ministers' meeting in Ottawa on Feb. 7 as his government looks to finalize a deal on health-care funding with the provinces, according to sources who spoke to CBC News.

The two sides have been in protracted negotiations over an increase to the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) for months.

The premiers have been demanding a face-to-face meeting with Trudeau to press him for a multi-billion dollar increase to the funding. The federal government has said Trudeau would not meet with his provincial counterparts until officials had negotiated some of the finer points of a deal.

Trudeau's move to hold a meeting with premiers signals a deal could soon be in hand — but there are still some sticking points that need to be resolved, said federal sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The provinces have been demanding a big cash injection to support a system that has been undermined by COVID-19 and labour shortages.

Ottawa has said it wants its investment to go beyond short-term fixes to deliver lasting change to a system that faces a multitude of challenges — in primary care, mental health, long-term care, virtual care and data collection.

To help stabilize the system, the premiers have been asking Ottawa to dramatically increase how much it spends each year on the CHT — the block of money sent by the federal government to the provinces and territories to fund health services.

The premiers want Ottawa to increase its share of health-care costs from the current 22 per cent to 35 per cent.

The federal Liberal government has said the 22 per cent figure doesn't reflect the whole funding picture.

In 1977, some tax points were transferred from Ottawa to the provinces, which allowed them to collect a larger share of all tax revenues to fund social programs like health care. Those tax points, Ottawa argues, should count for something.