Liberals criticize Nova Scotia's health-care funding deal with Ottawa

Nova Scotia's agreement with the federal government over health-care funding brings in less money per capita than the other three Atlantic provinces, but Premier Tim Houston is dismissing suggestions he signed a bad deal.

Liberal MLA Keith Irving raised the issue during question period on Wednesday at Province House in Halifax. The Kings South MLA compared the per capita funding Nova Scotia received to that of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and P.E.I.

Houston told reporters that Irving was "wrong in his analysis," although that analysis is backed up by government numbers.

Along with recently agreeing to an increase in the Canada Health Transfer, Ottawa signed bilateral funding agreements with each of the provinces and territories. Nova Scotia's is worth about $1 billion over 10 years. 

The province will get $103.2 million in 2023-24 as part of that agreement, more than any of the other Atlantic provinces. But numbers provided by the provincial Health Department show Nova Scotia's per capita share of $98.98 is less than New Brunswick ($111.31), Newfoundland and Labrador ($145.33) and P.E.I. ($164.60).

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said responsibility for the difference falls to Houston.

"It's up to the premier and his cabinet to represent the interests of this province," Churchill told reporters.

'Good deal for Nova Scotians,' says premier

"It seems that they failed to negotiate a deal that was at least as good as our neighbouring provinces and I think the premier shouldn't be content with that."

Houston said he stands by the deal

"This is a good deal for Nova Scotians," he said. "It's a good deal for smaller jurisdictions because, for the first time, the federal government has moved away from strictly per capita [funding]."

On that point, Houston is correct.

Nova Scotia premiers have long argued that the per capita funding model of the Canada Health Transfer disadvantages smaller provinces that often have older, sicker populations that cost more to treat.

Higher than other provinces

The bilateral deals recognize that "running a health-care system is the same, whether you have 13 million people or 1 million people," said Houston.

The Health Department's numbers show that Nova Scotia's bilateral deal is far ahead of many other provinces on a per capita basis, including Ontario ($54.30), Quebec ($56.74), British Columbia ($60.27), Alberta ($61.87), Manitoba ($86.19) and Saskatchewan ($92.63).

The calculation used to set the bilateral payouts includes a base amount and additional money related to population. It's that base amount that helps smaller provinces such as Nova Scotia because all provinces with a population of 500,000 or more received the same amount of money: $50 million.

The money the provinces receive as part of their bilateral agreements is supposed to be directed toward priority areas including increasing staff, reducing waiting lists and backlogs, increasing access to primary care and expanding the use of technology to improve services.

Federal officials have praised the work Houston and Health Minister Michelle Thompson were doing on that front even before the bilateral agreement was signed.