July 28, 2000
SEAN McKIBBON
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT — Allan Rock, the federal health minister, has accepted an invitation to visit Nunavut and get a first-hand look at the problems facing the country’s newest territory, says Nunavut’s health minister, Ed Picco.
"I expect it will be some time in the fall. I’d like to get him into Iqaluit and outside of Iqaluit," said Picco, who made the case at last week’s meeting of Canadian health ministers in Ottawa that Nunavut has unique needs and requires more money than it gets under the per-capita formula used to calculate the Canada health and social transfer.
Canadian health ministers seem to be more positive about their latest round of talks held in Ottawa, but last week’s gabfest on health still failed to produce any concrete results.
But Allan Rock seems finally to be recognizing the need for more cash in Canada’s health care system, Picco said.
"I indicated last week in Ottawa that some of the things we’re dealing with here are Third World," said Picco.
He says he hopes that by bringing other health ministers to Nunavut, they can see for themselves the unique challenges facing the territory. This week, Picco hosted a visit by Mike Farmworth, British Columbia’s health minister.
"Mike and I went jet boating up the Sylvia Grinnell, and I can tell you that it was exciting, but it’s not the same as if you were there. You had to be there to know what it was like," said Picco.
Aside from jet-boating, Farmworth was also in town to help Picco and his department adopt an anti-smoking campaign.
Will Ottawa spend more?
Farmworth was also bullish on the prospect of the federal government beefing up health care funding.
"The feds have to get back in the game. They get it and I think the provinces get it too," said Farmworth. He said provinces are starting to realize that they need to improve the way health care is delivered and they have to co-operate with other jurisdictions and, "not just pour money down into a hole."
But while Picco and Farmworth were reciting the by-now familiar mantra of "restore the Canadian health and social transfer to 1994-1995 levels," there has still been no public commitment on the part of Rock to do that.
Still the two ministers said they believed the federal government may be moving in the direction of restoring the money and putting in a mechanism to increase the transfer based on changes in Canada’s gross domestic product.
The two men said that at least seven provinces and the three territories were in agreement on what should happen and that Manitoba and Ontario’s health ministers were making positive noises in that direction too, but had to take the results of the meeting back to their government’s for direction.
Quebec, as usual wants to do its own thing, Farmworth said.
Farmworth and Picco also said they want to look at ways in which different provinces could work together on health services. Farmworth cited the example of possible overlap in medical air transportation between the Yukon and northern parts of his province.
B.C. anti-smoking campaign
Picco cited Nunavut’s attempts to adopt B.C.’s anti-smoking programs.
"The issues facing health in this country, whether it’s in B.C. or in Nunavut are very similar, around things such as staffing shortages, access to equipment, and infrastructure. Each provincial and territorial jurisdiction is unique and has its own pressures, but the solutions to them have to come at a national level and have to involve the provinces working together and the federal government playing a leadership role," said Farmworth.
It may also mean treating some jurisdictions differently. Picco says restoring the CHST to 1994-1995 levels would mean adding another $4 billion to the $15 billion the federal government transfers to the provinces every year.
But for Nunavut, that would mean only $3 million in addition to the $7 million the territory already gets from the CHST.
"If you gave me a million bucks what could I achieve? Maybe Mike could build a new wing on his hospital. For a million bucks I could probably build a foundation," said Picco. Funding for Nunavut and the other territories needs to be based on more than just population, Picco said.
He said he hadn’t determined yet how much more money Nunavut needs, but he said that because the CHST is shared among different government departments, it doesn’t go very far.
Farmworth and Picco said they would like to see funding that is specifically targeted for different aspects of health care, such as training and infrastructure.
"The CHST funding is to keep what we have going right now. Over and above that, we’re identifying where some of the pressures like staffing, human resources lie," said Farmworth.
Warning: include(/magma/users/u42/nunatsia/php/mainfooter.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/web/nunatsiaqonline/html/archives/nunavut000731/nvt20728_01.html on line 111
Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/magma/users/u42/nunatsia/php/mainfooter.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear:/home/web/nunatsiaqonline/html/pub/php') in /home/web/nunatsiaqonline/html/archives/nunavut000731/nvt20728_01.html on line 111