Atlantic Canada needs health-care funding based on need, not population: Green Party

Fri, January 27, 2023 



FREDERICTON — The Green Party is calling on the federal government to fund health care in Atlantic Canada in keeping with the needs of its residents, not based on its share of the population.

Federal Green Party Leader Elizabeth May says the Atlantic provinces have a higher proportion, compared with the rest of the country, of residents who have complex needs for health care.

New Brunswick Green Party Leader David Coon says funding has recently been distributed to provinces on a per capita basis, putting the Atlantic region at a disadvantage.

As well, Coon says there is a disturbing trend toward the private management and delivery of health care in the country, adding that the corporate ownership of surgical centres is of notable concern.

Several surgical centres in Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic region are receiving funding from provincial governments to provide knee, hip and other surgeries as a way to ease backlogs.

He says there are strong benefits to surgical centres owned publicly, not by corporations looking to maximize profits and service their shareholders with growing dividends.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2023.

The Canadian Press