Prince Edward Island signs health deal with additional $45.1 million

CHARLOTTETOWN – Prince Edward Island has become the latest province to sign on to a health deal with Ottawa, agreeing to an additional $45.1 million over the next 10 years.

P.E.I., the last of the four Atlantic provinces to ink an agreement, made the announcement Tuesday.

The targeted funding would see $24.6 million for home care and related infrastructure requirements and $20.5 million to support mental health initiatives. The funding is to begin in the 2017-18 fiscal year.

“They’ve got some great plans there about how they want to make sure they expand access to home care,” federal Health Minister Jane Philpott told reporters in Ottawa. “And of course they have significant issues like everyone else in the country as it relates to mental health.”

Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut have also agreed to deals.

Philpott said communications were ongoing with the five hold-out provinces.

“We’re determined,” she said. “We are continuing conversations and we hope to have good news very soon.”

But only last week Manitoba launched an online ad campaign critical of the federal plan to limit annual increases in health transfer payments.

It was the sticking point that originally broke up talks on a pan-Canadian deal in December. The provinces and territories walked away from Ottawa’s offer of a 3.5 per cent annual increase in health transfer payments and another $11.5 billion over 10 years in targeted funding primarily for home care and mental health.

The provinces and territories had been pushing for an annual increase of 5.2 per cent in overall funding.

That solidarity was fractured in late December, when New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant became the first to break ranks. Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador reached separate agreements a few days later.

As part of the P.E.I. announcement Tuesday, the federal government said performance indicators and a system of annual public reporting would be developed in the coming weeks, along with a detailed plan on how the additional funding will be spent over and above existing programs.