The Council of Canadians congratulates the Premiers on the conclusion of an excellent Council of the Federation meeting.
The premiers have called out the federal government for walking away from the negotiating table and refusing to play a role in Canada’s most cherished social programme.
The premiers have announced that health care cuts through the Canada Health Transfer and the equalization programme are going to be even deeper than previously expected. By 2024, provinces and territories will lose $36 billion in federal funding through the Canada Health Transfer, $5 billion more than previously expected. Additionally, the premiers have announced that a further $16 billion will be cut through the equalization programme between 2014 and 2019. That number will grow by the end of the 2014-2024 Health Accord.
“We congratulate the Premiers for listening to the voices of Canadians who have been adamantly opposed to the Harper government’s absence from health care,” says Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians
“We are especially concerned for Canadians in poorer provinces like Nova Scotia where the conference took place,” says Adrienne Silnicki, health care campaigner with the Council of Canadians. “The cuts to equalization will hurt those provinces the most.”
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