Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel speaks to media while Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, left, and Manitoba Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara listen in at a meeting of provincial and territorial health ministers in Winnipeg, on Friday.John Woods/The Canadian Press
By the end of a two-day interjurisdictional meeting, Canada’s provincial and territorial health ministers were able to receive assurances on funding extensions from Ottawa, but will need to convene again before 2027 to confirm the future of expiring transfer programs.
Federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel declined to make any commitments on Friday beyond what she described as “bridge dollars” until further negotiations, including for the Canada Health Transfer, the country’s primary vehicle for provincial and territorial funding.
“The work is starting today. It’s not like a big announcement – it’s a bridging,” Ms. Michel said in Winnipeg, where ministers from across Canada gathered to meet their counterparts this week, as they attempted to reach a consensus on issues related to health care.
Despite jurisdictional differences on many policies, such as the privatization of health care and access to medical assistance in dying, the ministers presented a united front against challenges that have been bogging down Canada’s strained hospitals and medical facilities. Their most wholehearted agreement, the ministers told reporters, was on the need for longer-term and stable commitments from the federal government.
Health ministers say one-year extension of mental health, home care funding not enough
Ms. Michel, however, answered the ministers calls by saying that the federal budget cycle has changed. Traditionally, the government’s fiscal blueprint has been tabled in the spring, but it will arrive in the House of Commons this fall, a date for which has not yet been announced.
Securing an agreement from Ottawa to extend funding for mental health, substance-use treatment and home care had been a key priority for the provincial and territorial ministers.
They issued warnings for weeks leading up to their meeting, repeatedly calling out Ottawa’s silence on programs set to expire next year, portraying the expiration as a potential spending cut that would affect multitudinous parts of the health sector.
But on the night before their meeting, Ms. Michel announced via social media late Wednesday that her government will extend those expiring programs for at least one year, which she said would represent $1.2-billion in funding.
Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said the temporary change came at the last minute and lacked clarity. “Respectfully, I would say that a one-year extension of an existing 10-year [agreement] about to expire does not fill us with a lot of joy,” she said Thursday.
On Friday, Uzoma Asagwara, Manitoba’s health minister, said officials were pleased to see Ms. Michel “asking really important questions, getting clarification, and really hearing our concerns and pledging their support to work with us.”
Mx. Asagwara added that, as a direct result of Friday’s discussions, another interjurisdictional meeting will take place by December this year.
Provincial and territorial health ministers want the Canada Health Transfer to grow at a minimum of 5 per cent annually, rather than the 3-per-cent growth rate it is expected to reach in 2028, Mx. Asagwara said.
Ms. Michel assured the health ministers that the next stage of discussions will be on funding through the Canada Health Transfer and other bilateral agreements.
The Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Nurses Association, both of which were in Winnipeg as well, said they wish there was more clarity from Ottawa this week.
“We really need to see a more sustainable path towards funding and staffing for our nurses and physicians,” said Valerie Grdisa, chief executive of the CNA, in an interview. “We can’t really actually plan anything without those proper commitments.”
Speaking on behalf of all 13 territories and provinces as the meeting’s host, Mx. Asagwara said several other topics had come up during the ministerial discussions, such as targeted care for Indigenous communities and equitable access in the pharmaceutical sector.
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But recent federal changes toward medical assistance in dying, commonly referred to as MAID, which were expected to be discussed, were not a major factor this week.
Federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser said last week that Ottawa intends to introduce legislation to bar MAID for patients whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness.
He said the federal government intends to amend the Criminal Code to legally decriminalize the provision of MAID where there is an advance request. It allows patients to formalize their wishes ahead of when they no longer have the capacity to offer consent to end their lives by MAID.
Ottawa’s approach, however, will not mean that Canadians across the country would automatically be able to make advance requests once the bill becomes law. It will be up to each province and territory to decide whether it will offer that choice and to determine the framework for that.
Mr. Fraser has not provided further details on the bill, while Ms. Michel declined to address the matter Friday.
National consultations, conducted from November 2024 to February 2025 by the federal government on advance requests found that a majority of Canadians are supportive of advance requests.
Mr. Fraser said he expects conversations on MAID to unfold at the provincial level.
But Ms. Jones from Ontario said federal, provincial and territorial ministers did not have those discussions this week. Ms. Michel offered a small update related to MAID on Friday that was “helpful,” Ms. Jones said, without providing further details.
In October, 2024, Quebec became the only Canadian jurisdiction to allow patients diagnosed with a serious and incurable illness that leads to incapacity – such as Alzheimer’s – to apply in advance for MAID. Ottawa did not challenge Quebec’s law, but it did not change the Criminal Code either.
Sonia Bélanger, Quebec’s health minister, who was also in Winnipeg this week, declined to comment on the matter.
Ms. Jones said Ontario is “very appreciative” that the federal government does not plan to expand access to MAID. “Moving forward, we will obviously individually assess for how it impacts our residents provincially and territorially.”