Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 Articles
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Members & Subscribers
    • Benefits for CMA Members
    • CPD Credits for Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription Prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 Articles
  • Authors & Reviewers
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
    • Patient engagement
  • Members & Subscribers
    • Benefits for CMA Members
    • CPD Credits for Members
    • Subscribe to CMAJ Print
    • Subscription Prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2023
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
News

Enough “unhelpful, over-the-top” rhetoric, Aglukkaq says

Wayne Kondro
CMAJ September 18, 2012 184 (13) E707-E708; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-4270
Wayne Kondro
CMAJ
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

It is difficult to imagine a more constricted federal role in health care, or a more stark confirmation of the government’s intent to take an entirely hands-off approach to health care in Canada.

But as sketched by federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq in an address to the Canadian Medical Association’s 145th annual general meeting, being held in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, the government has done its bit to ensure health equity and fairness in Canada by fixing the formula for federal cash transfers for health care to the provinces through 2024, by providing funding for health research and data-gathering, and by funding health services for those population groups for which it has jurisdictional responsibility, such as Aboriginal peoples and veterans.

The rest, simply put, is the domain of the provinces and any federal involvement would be an intrusion, while reducing provincial “flexibility” to invest in areas they believe to be priorities or to deliver health care in a fashion they believe to be optimal, Aglukkaq argued. And critics who’ve accused the federal government of dodging its responsibilities to ensure national standards and equity, such as the CMA, are indulging in “unhelpful, over-the-top” rhetoric, she asserted.

“Our government has been absolutely clear that we will respect provincial and territorial jurisdiction when it comes to delivery of health care. As a former Territorial Health Minister, I know very well that decision-making about health care is best left to individual provinces, territories and local levels. As federal Minister of Health, I will not dictate to the provinces and territories how they will deliver services, or set their priorities,” Aglukkaq told delegates.

Later asked by reporters whether the federal government believes cash transfers are any manner of guarantor of equity and fairness in health services, Aglukkaq responded that “you talk about fairness and equity but you also have to recognize the difference in jurisdictions and that’s the gap.”

Figure

Decision-making about health care is best left to individual provinces, territories and local levels, according to federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.

Image courtesy of Roger Collier/CMAJ

“We are putting in place long-term stable funding across the country to allow the provinces and territories to focus in areas of health, as opposed to the financial piece. The long-term stable funding will allow them to also focus in areas of their priorities,” she said. For example, there are different demographic needs across the country, she added. The aging population is a priority in Ontario, but not in the territories, which have much younger population bases.

Opposition critics cast Aglukkaq’s stance as confirmation of the federal government’s intent to vacate the field and any sense of responsibility it has to ensure equity in health services available to Canadians or any notion of national standards implicit in the principles of the Canada Health Act.

The federal government’s use of “the word ‘flexibility’ is a code for lack of action,” Libby Davies, New Democrat health critic, told reporters.

The government is saying that they “will let there be 13 balkanized little health care delivery systems in this country,” added Dr. Hedy Fry, health critic for the Liberal Party.

Dr. Robert Woollard, a board member of Canadian Doctors for Medicare, said the government is saying, de facto, that it does not have a role in either ensuring equity or reforming the health care system. At best, the health care system is doomed to becoming a “nation of pilot projects.”

In her address, Aglukkaq also argued that reform of the health care system is as much a responsibility of individual Canadians as it is the role of the provinces. “Good public health involves all levels of government and sectors of society — but Canadians also need to do their part by making health choices that support their own health.”

Outside of transfer payments, Aglukkaq cast the federal government’s role as falling within the parameters of research, data-gathering, training or special initiatives. To that end, she noted that the government spends over $1 billion per year on the Canadian Institutes for Health Research; allocated $239 million for ongoing data-gathering by the Canadian Institute for Health Information; provided financial support for a program to train more than 100 family physicians to serve rural and remote communities; and is “playing a leadership role nationally when it comes to national issues, like cancer, diabetes, as well as food safety.”

The federal government announced in December 2011 that it would increase cash transfers to the provinces for health care by 6% through fiscal 2016 and then peg them to a "three-year moving average of nominal gross domestic product [GDP]," with a minimum 3% increase through 2024 (www.fin.gc.ca/n11/data/11-141_1-eng.asp).

PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 184 (13)
CMAJ
Vol. 184, Issue 13
18 Sep 2012
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Enough “unhelpful, over-the-top” rhetoric, Aglukkaq says
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Enough “unhelpful, over-the-top” rhetoric, Aglukkaq says
Wayne Kondro
CMAJ Sep 2012, 184 (13) E707-E708; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.109-4270

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Enough “unhelpful, over-the-top” rhetoric, Aglukkaq says
Wayne Kondro
CMAJ Sep 2012, 184 (13) E707-E708; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.109-4270
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • What to know about Omicron XBB.1.5
  • Could a flu shot push help curb pediatric hospitalizations?
  • Stalemate: What’s holding up a new health accord?
Show more News

Similar Articles

Collections

  • Topics
    • Canadian government
    • Health policy

 

View Latest Classified Ads

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • CPD credits
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Advisory Panels
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions
  • Accessibiity
  • CMA Civility Standards
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2023, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: cmajgroup@cmaj.ca

Powered by HighWire