A swing and a miss from Trudeau
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ABOVE THE FOLD
THE PITCH — Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU’s 10-year, $46.2-billion pledge to boost health care funding is getting a cold response from the Premiers, who days earlier appeared ready to sign on the dotted line.
The deal falls short of what the provinces wanted, but it’s a “starting point,” according to Ontario’s DOUG FORD.
“There wasn’t a lot in the way of new funding…We were a little disappointed at that,” added Manitoba Premier HEATHER STEFANSON, chair of the all-premiers Council of the Federation.
Before the two-hour meeting behind closed doors in Ottawa — the first in-person sit-down since Covid — the premiers, and Ford in particular, had struck an optimistic tone.
That quickly faded after they heard the actual pitch from Trudeau.
The big sticking point: The Premiers have long demanded that the feds cough up a bigger chunk of the Canada Health Transfers, from 22 per cent to 35 per cent. Trudeau’s proposal does not do that. It would require an extra $28 bill…