Ontario's premier says Trudeau agrees 'status quo isn't working' amid health-care crisis

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agree the status quo cannot continue when it comes to health care and said delivering it “differently” must be part of the solution after the two met at Queen’s Park Tuesday.

Speaking with reporters following the meeting, Ford said that Trudeau knows what he and the other premiers are looking for when it comes to their previous ask that the federal government provide a greater share of the funding for health care. He said he had a “great meeting” with Trudeau and is “very very confident” that they will come to a deal.

“We know how urgent this is and we're gonna make sure that we sit down and really work out a deal,” Ford said.

The premiers have said that the federal government provides around 23 per cent of health-care funding, though the federal government has disputed that figure and said that it is closer to 35 per cent.

The Ford government has been under fire this summer for lengthy hospital wait times amid a provincewide shortage of health-care workers. Ford acknowledged Tuesday that people should not have to wait 10 to 12 hours or more to be seen by a doctor.

Ford said he and Trudeau agreed that whatever the funding arrangements, health care needs to be delivered differently.

“We do have to deliver it differently. We do agree neither of us are health-care experts, but I really rely on the CEOs in the health-care sector to give us advice,” Ford said.

Speaking with reporters, Ford defended his government’s plan to make it possible for hospitals to transfer some patients waiting for long-term care to nursing homes not of their choosing, a plan that has faced questions and caused alarm among some observers.

Asked Tuesday whether he would guarantee that patients would not be forced to pay the uninsured hospital rate of $1,800 per day if they refuse to go, Ford was noncommittal, but said that the current rate sounds too high.

“Well, I’ll tell you right now, I can't say 100 per cent, but $1,800 is absolutely ridiculous,” Ford said. “We’ll have to work out a cost and the hospitals will have to work out a cost because the people that are determining that is not me personally, it's just the hospitals and Ontario Health. So they'll work it out, but I guarantee it's not going to be $1,800. We just want these patients to go into a proper environment that is just better for them.”   

Tuesday’s meeting marked the first time that Trudeau had visited Ford at Queen’ Park since 2018, though the two leaders have met elsewhere on a number of other occasions since.

Both leaders played up their cooperation during the pandemic and said they will continue to work together on important issues.

“I know Canadians want to see the orders of government working together,” Trudeau said ahead of the meeting. “And I'm always looking for that and I really appreciate your welcome here.”

Ford said he and Trudeau also touched on three other main topics in their meeting: housing, immigration and infrastructure.

“They agreed that all three levels of government must work together to do what they can to get more homes built faster,” Ford’s office said in a statement following the meeting. “The two leaders also discussed Ontario’s desire to welcome more economic and skilled immigrants to the province and the premier raised that removing barriers to immigration would significantly help Ontario respond to current labour and workforce shortages, including in the health care sector.”

The statement said the two also discussed electrical vehicle and mineral production in Ontario.

Trudeau did not take questions after the meeting.

-          With files from The Canadian Press