“Right now, they still want all this money with no accountability and no clear results. I have to say, that’s not what Canadians need. We’re going to be sending more money, but we need to see real change, real results,” Trudeau said in a year-end conversation with Chief News Anchor and Senior Editor of CTV National News Omar Sachedina, airing in full on Dec. 31.
“I look forward to sitting down with them once there is the outlines of a deal,” said the prime minister.
While Trudeau vowed that the federal government is willing to send “billions more,” as he’s previously emphasised, that money will come with strings attached.
The premiers have been ramping up pressure for Trudeau to meet with them to discuss the federal government increasing the Canada Health Transfer—which funnels federal dollars into provincial health-care systems—to 35 per cent up from the current 22 per cent of coverage for health-care costs.
This longstanding but recently re-emphasized demand comes as hospitals and health-care facilities appear to be in crisis mode, between staffing shortages and a cold-weather surge of illnesses compounding in extended wait times and other struggles to access adequate care.
“Right now, we’re seeing that our health-care systems are strained, if not broken right across the country in many, many ways,” said the prime minister. “But, as the head of the Canadian Medical Association said this past summer, you can’t fix something by just putting money into a broken system.”
This latest premiers’ push, though, comes as some provinces are coming out of the thick of the pandemic with projected budget surpluses.
In the interview, Trudeau indicated he wouldn’t pull up a chair at the table until there’s a more concrete plan for provincial accountability. Though, he noted that federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos continues to meet with his provincial counterparts towards this goal.
“As I’ve talked to nurses and doctors and front-line workers in our health-care system, they’ve all said: make sure the provinces are actually delivering better care in exchange for the money that the federal government continues to send them. And that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.
The prime minister said that while “nobody wants to see” the federal government fighting with the provinces over this issue: “if I don’t stand strong and say, ‘you have to fix your system, you can’t just put more money into it,’ Canada won’t see those changes happen at the provincial level.”
You can watch the full interview with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on New Year’s Eve. A conversation with the prime minister hosted by CTV’s Omar Sachedina will air on Dec. 31 at 7 p.m. across the country.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
