As the reality of the new Canada Health Transfer sinks in – a redistribution announced by Ottawa last month that cuts the rate of growth over the coming decade – the provinces are suddenly keen to craft a strategy to curb the interprovincial competition for health-care workers, a competition driven by the salaries of health-care workers.

Labour costs are the single biggest factor in health-care budgets. In B.C. they make up 62 per cent of the $12.6-billion annual budget. The trick will be persuading wealthier provinces, like B.C., to abandon the practice of buying their way out of labour shortages.

Robert Evans, an economics professor at UBC’s Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, is skeptical about the ability of the provinces to tackle the problem so long as the Harper government refuses to get involved. “What you need to do is develop interprovincial agreements about how much you are going to pay – it has to be binding, with financial teeth.”

Globe and Mail
Fri Jan 20 2012
Page: S3
By: Justine Hunter
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