Ottawa — Ottawa is offering the provinces a 10-year plan to shore up the health-care system, including about $13-billion through the first six years and annual 5-per-cent increases to keep up with inflation and soaring medicare costs, provincial officials have told The Globe and Mail.
The offer was made after phone calls from Prime Minister Paul Martin to Canada's premiers over the weekend. The first ministers begin meetings today to hammer out a new deal, and they also met last night at 24 Sussex Dr. to discuss the three-day summit.
According to provincial sources, Ottawa is prepared to increase funding for this year's equalization program by $400-million and another $900-million next year. However, it also wants to replace a long-standing formula-based funding method with a special commission, whose job would be to calculate disbursements. The proposed changes have raised suspicions, particularly among the have-not provinces.
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