OTTAWA — British Columbia's health minister says negotiations on a long-term health funding agreement with the provinces and territories will be in danger if the federal government doesn't bring more cash to the table.
Terry Lake says he is troubled by recent signals from Health Minister Jane Philpott that the federal Liberals plan to limit annual increases to three per cent — half the six per cent increase set out in Canada's last health accord.
Lake says there is "no question" that increases of just three per cent would put B.C. under enormous fiscal pressure, especially with an aging population.
He also says he was "shocked" when a promised $3 billion over four years for home care failed to materialize in the last federal budget.
Lake says he doesn't know why the provinces and territories have to wait for these funds given it was promised as an "immediate" funding commitment.
Philpott is set to sit down with her provincial and territorial counterparts in Toronto in October.
