The health funding deal between Nova Scotia and Ottawa has not yet been finalized despite being announced last December.
Almost three months after the announcement, “the final agreement details are still being worked out,” provincial Finance Minister Randy Delorey told Global News.
Through the deal, Nova Scotia expects to receive $11.48 billion for health care over ten years. The province gets to decide how to spend most of the money, but $287.8 million of the funding has to be spent directly on home care and mental health care.
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How the targeted money is allowed to be spent and how the province will be held accountable for it is still unclear. Delorey said the two levels of government are still negotiating the details around how Ottawa will verify that the money targeted for home care and mental health care is being spent in those areas.
“At this point we do know at an important level what we’re estimating in terms of the total costs,” Delorey said. “What we’re looking are the final details… just need to dot your ‘i’s, cross your ‘t’s.”
How much of the targeted money will be given to the province for each year of the ten-year deal also hasn’t been made public. Delorey said more information on that will likely come when the federal government releases its budget in two weeks.
There’s no timeline for when the deal between Ottawa and Nova Scotia will be finalized, but Delorey said either way the money from the new deal will start flowing in April.
Opposition surprised that health accord isn’t finalized
Progressive Conservative leader Jamie Baillie is accusing the government of jumping the gun by announcing the deal in December.
“They issued a press release to say they’d reached an agreement, and now we find out there isn’t even an agreement,” he said.
Both opposition parties have criticized the deal and accuse the Nova Scotia Liberals of folding too soon in their fight for more health care money from Ottawa.
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The $11.48 billion reflects an increase in the current funding by 3.5 per cent for each of the first two years. Subsequently, the province will receive an increase tied to nominal GDP, with a base of three per cent.
Before reaching the deal, Premier Stephen McNeil said the province needed a 5.2 per cent annual increase in health funding.
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