Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 16/00) - Call it cash back for Canadian health.

After days of meeting at the 41st annual Premiers conference in Winnipeg, first ministers from across Canada united behind a call for the federal government to restore cash transfer payments to health care.

Premier Stephen Kakfwi, said that while the Aug. 9-11 meeting went much longer than expected, extending to almost 11 p.m. Friday, in the end, the premiers agreed to work together to convince the Ottawa to restore Canada Health and Social Transfers (CHST) to levels before funding cuts began six years ago.

He also said that he expects the federal government will comply with the premiers' wishes when Jean Chretien, the Prime Minister, and the premiers meet at the First Ministers' Conference in mid-September.

"The federal government has to re-instate health care funds," Kakfwi said.

"We need federal money and we are going to get the federal money that they cut at the expense of health, but we have to make sure it's consistent and affordable."

According to Kakfwi, a key issue addressed at the conference was equality between the provinces and territories in maintaining the health care system, and more specifically, that the various jurisdictions agree to deal with each other fairly when it comes to recruiting doctors and other health care practitioners.

This is especially troublesome for the three territories, considering their smaller populations and higher travel costs. Kakfwi said the provinces were supportive of the difficulties in maintaining a health care system in the North.

"We talked about that and we looked at it, so that regions are working together and not just raiding each other," Kakfwi said.

"We're looking at ways that are fairly consistent across the country."

Currently, total provincial and territorial health care spending stands at $56 billion annually, with an average annual growth rate in costs of seven per cent.

Cumulative federal funding reductions to the CHST total more than $24 billion over the past six years.

Premiers are calling upon the Prime Minister to restore cash portions of the existing CHST to $18.7 billion annually.

They also called for the establishment of an appropriate escalator to ensure that funding for health and social programs keeps pace with economic and social factors, such as inflation, rising costs in technological applications and research, and an aging population.

"We're meeting with the federal government in mid-September," Kakfwi said. "We're going to talk and then make a deal."