‘Wouldn’t Be Surprised’ If Trudeau Imposed Health Accord: Premier Wall

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has mentioned in his recent remarks that since the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unilaterally imposed a carbon tax while the provinces were still in talks, he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the same thing happens with health care. According to Wall, he believes the $50-a-tonne carbon tax will hit his resource-rich province especially hard.

In his remarks, Wall shared his suspicion that Tuesday’s announcement might have been a ploy by PM Trudeau to “change the subject” during a period of negative coverage around “the fact that the premiers would like to talk about health care.” Wall mentioned on Friday that he’s concerned about “what it is we can believe from the federal government when it comes to federal provincial relations going forward.”

The Canada Health Transfer accounts for about half of the money the federal government sends to the provinces and Minister Jane Philpott has vowed that Liberals will continue to cut the growth rate in health transfers next year from six per cent increases per year to as little as three per cent. Earlier when that decision was made unilaterally by Conservative Finance Minister Jim Flaherty in late 2011, Trudeau praised Martin’s health accord. He mentioned “that’s why I’m committed, if elected Prime Minister, to meeting with the premiers to talk about how to strengthen health care,” adding that “to figure out where they need help, how we can help them, and where we can make measurable progress on the issues that matter to Canadians. Things like wait times, the affordability of prescription drugs, and the availability of homecare.”