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Pierre Poilievre says a future Conservative government would maintain the proposed health spending levels announced this week by the Liberal government but said he can’t immediately commit to adding more funding.
Speaking with reporters Wednesday ahead of a caucus meeting on Parliament Hill, the federal Conservative Leader claimed that the Liberals were unable to spend more on health because the government has wasted billions in less important areas such as outside consultants.
Mr. Poilievre pointed out that under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the size of the federal debt has doubled, yet problems in health care remain.
Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Bill Curry reports here.
Ahead of Question Period, Mr. Trudeau was dismissive of the Conservative take on the government’s handling of health care.
“Conservatives have come out to slam our investments in health care that are going towards to concretely improving services for Canadians, whether it’s better access to family doctors, whether it’s rapid support for mental health, whether it’s more support for frontline workers, or even just better data systems and health information so everyone gets the best quality of care right across the country,” he told journalists.
“The Conservatives once again offer only cuts and austerity, not support for Canadians.”
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said the next step in health care funding talks is to figure out how the money on the table will bring results to patients and workers in Canada.
“The good news is that lots of the, the work, you know, the actual policy that is needed to generate those results, lots of the work on that has been done over the last year with my colleagues, health ministers,” he told journalists on Parliament Hill.
Also, Ottawa reporter Shannon Proudfoot analyzes here why the health care funding decision matters, quite personally, to all Canadians.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Ian Bailey. It is available exclusively to our digital subscribers. If you're reading this on the web, subscribers can sign up for the Politics newsletter and more than 20 others on our newsletter signup page. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY'S HEADLINES
BUS CRASH INTO DAYCARE LEAVES TWO DEAD - Two children are dead and six seriously injured after a city bus crashed into a daycare north of Montreal on Wednesday morning in what police are saying was a criminal act. Story here.
MINISTERS MAKING CASE FOR DEFENCE CO-OPERATION WITH U.S. - Canada is fortifying a long-standing front in its ongoing battle with protectionist impulses in the United States: resurrecting the Second World War-era notion of the two continental allies working together to stockpile the arsenal of democracy. Story here.
CITY AUDITOR-GENERAL RAPS POLICE IN CONVOY INFORMATION SHARING - The City of Ottawa’s auditor-general says police intelligence sharing with the city about last year’s so-called Freedom Convoy was insufficient and affected the ability to plan for the protests. Story here. Meanwhile, Ottawa’s city council has approved a motion to reopen the street in front of Parliament Hill to traffic a year after it was closed off following the protests. Story here.
PRAIRIES TO BENEFIT FROM MORE IMMIGRATION: DESJARDINS - A new Desjardins report suggests Canada’s immigration target increase could spur economic growth, with the Prairies standing to benefit the most. Story here.
SHORT STATEMENTS AND AWKWARD HANDSHAKE AT SMITH-TRUDEAU MEETING - Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met face to face with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday in a photo opportunity punctuated by short statements and a very awkward handshake. Story here.
TURPEL-LAFOND RETURNS DEGREE TO UNIVERSITY - Royal Roads University says it has accepted the return of an honorary doctorate from retired judge Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, who was the subject of a CBC investigation about her claims of Indigenous heritage last fall. Story here.
ALBERTA PRESSED TO DROP REQUIREMENT THAT LAWYERS SWEAR OATH TO KING - The Alberta government is facing growing pressure to change a requirement that prospective lawyers swear an oath to the King, amid two lawsuits claiming the rule breaches religious and spiritual rights. One plaintiff has now been called to the bar in neighbouring Saskatchewan, where the oath is not compulsory. Story here.
DEADLINE EXTENSION FOR EMERGENCIES ACT INQUIRY - The federal commission looking into the Liberal government’s decision to use the Emergencies Act is being granted an extension to deliver its report to the cabinet and the public at the same time on Feb. 20. Story here.
B.C. MINISTER DEALING WITH RETURN OF CANCER - British Columbia’s Minister of Post-Secondary Education says she is undergoing chemotherapy after a scan revealed cancer had returned. Story here.
THIS AND THAT
TODAY IN THE COMMONS – Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, Feb. 8, accessible here.
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER’S DAY - Chrystia Freeland, in Ottawa, attended private meetings, and the Liberal caucus meeting. Ms. Freeland also met with Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey, and also met with Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai.
INCIDENT IN THE HOUSE - Mackenzie Gray, a national reporter with Global National and Global News. takes note here of an incident in the House of Commons on Wednesday right after Question Period.
MPs WANT AUDITOR-GENERAL PROBE OF MCKINSEY & CO. - Members of the House of Commons voted unanimously on Tuesday to have the Auditor-General look into federal outsourcing with McKinsey & Co., the global consulting giant that has recently been at the centre of controversy over the government seeking outside expertise. Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Bill Curry reported here, earlier this week, on the federal Procurement Minister asking the Office of the Procurement Ombudsman to look into federal outsourcing with McKinsey to ensure there is an independent review.
PM HEADS NORTH - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be in Whitehorse this coming Sunday for a Liberal Party fundraising event, hosted by Yukon MP Brendan Hanley.
COMMONS COMMITTEES - Treasury Board President Mona Fortier testifies on federal government contracts awarded to McKinsey & Co. during a hearing of the standing committee on government operations and estimates - details here. Immigration Minister Sean Fraser testifies on the government’s response to the final report of the special committee on Afghanistan held by the standing committee on citizen and immigration - details here.
PRIME MINISTER'S DAY
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in Ottawa, attended private meetings, the Liberal caucus meeting, Question Period, and was scheduled to meet with Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King. Mr. Trudeau was also scheduled to deliver remarks at a Black History Month reception.
LEADERS
Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet held a Parliament Hill news conference on the announcement of the health transfers, and also held a news conference on Bill C-282 concerning the comprehensive protection of supply management. Mr. Blanchet also attended Question Period.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh attended the NDP caucus meeting, took questions from reporters before attending Question Period and attended Question Period.
No schedules released for other party leaders.
THE DECIBEL
On Wednesday’s edition of The Globe and Mail podcast, mining reporter Niall McGee explains how Canada has found itself facing increasing calls to grow its critical mineral industry as the world pivots toward its net-zero goals and batteries are becoming increasingly important. But at the moment, Canada only has one functioning lithium mine and no refineries. The Decibel is here.
OPINION - HEALTH
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on a health proposal that doesn’t rise as high as its rhetoric: “To open the federal government’s long-awaited proposal on health-care funding was to know what it feels like to be a provincial premier. Ottawa was pledging to send the provinces tens of billions of dollars, over and above the already-planned increases, and yet it was underwhelming. The additional sums in the package are roughly what Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals promised in their 2021 election campaign – $21.3-billion over the next five years – although it will lock in those additional federal increases over a whole decade. It’s just that Mr. Trudeau had made it sound like there’d be much more.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on how the federal funding deal won’t fix health care: “Despite the hype, the spin, and the orgy of numbers put forward, the federal government has essentially dusted off and warmed over a 20-year-old Health Accord. In 2004, then-prime minister Paul Martin negotiated a 10-year, $41.3-billion agreement with the provinces, a deal that promised shorter surgical waiting times, better access to primary and home care, and the creation of health human-resource and national pharmaceutical strategies. It also included a 6-per-cent escalator on payments under the Canada Health Transfer. On Tuesday, current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered up an eerily similar 10-year deal, with $46-billion in new funding, and a 5-per-cent CHT escalator for the first five years, falling back to no less than 3 per cent for the subsequent five.”
OPINION
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on how soaring housing costs are turning cities into citadels for the rich: “People of all incomes should be able to flock to cities where the economy is thriving. It buoys individuals, the city and the country. The Bay Area may seem like an extreme example, distant when viewed from Canada, but Toronto and Vancouver are hurtling to the same outcome. Major interventions are necessary and all levels of government need to take stronger actions. That means everything from an overhaul of zoning rules that prevent the construction of ample new housing to using the fiscal heft of government to make sure enough affordable homes – especially purpose-built rentals – are part of the mix.”
Andrew Coyne (The Globe and Mail) on the problem at the heart of Bill C-11 being that the concept of CanCon is our folly: “The Senate has sent Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, back to the House of Commons with a raft of amendments. Bad news: the unelected Senate has no democratic mandate to amend anything. But it’s potentially good news, if the government seizes the opportunity for a little “sober second thought” of its own, and pulls the bill in its entirety.”
André Picard (The Globe and Mail) on how the federal funding deal won’t fix health care: “Despite the hype, the spin, and the orgy of numbers put forward, the federal government has essentially dusted off and warmed over a 20-year-old Health Accord. In 2004, then-prime minister Paul Martin negotiated a 10-year, $41.3-billion agreement with the provinces, a deal that promised shorter surgical waiting times, better access to primary and home care, and the creation of health human-resource and national pharmaceutical strategies. It also included a 6-per-cent escalator on payments under the Canada Health Transfer. On Tuesday, current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered up an eerily similar 10-year deal, with $46-billion in new funding, and a 5-per-cent CHT escalator for the first five years, falling back to no less than 3 per cent for the subsequent five.”
Konrad Yakabuski (The Globe and Mail) on Newfoundland finally having a strong hand to play as it seeks a new deal on Churchill Falls contract with Quebec: “Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey needs no reminding that every one of his predecessors, from the mid-1970s onward, tried and failed to get a better deal on the 1969 Churchill Falls hydroelectricity contract that has produced gargantuan profits for Quebec and only tears of bitterness for the citizens of his province. Like almost all Newfoundlanders, Mr. Furey knows the history of Churchill Falls by heart.”
Michael Wernick (Policy Options) on the never-ending question of contracting in the public service: “The private sector uses external advisers extensively. I worked with several ministers who were highly sceptical of public service advice and insisted on running the issue by an outside firm with a big reputation before taking a decision. During spending reviews, ministers reflexively turn to outside advisers because they assume, with some justification, that the public service won’t be willing to challenge itself or consider new approaches.”
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