HALIFAX — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday that New Brunswick and four other provinces reached agreements with federal officials for increased health-care funding.
Speaking at a town hall in Halifax, Trudeau said Ottawa reached “memorandoms of understandings” with New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Ontario also signed on to the agreement, Trudeau said.
“When we made the health care announcement, I said we were going to get moving forward on negotiations within weeks, not months, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” he told reporters.
The Atlantic provinces signed agreements that focus on four main priorities:
- Access to high-quality family health services, including in rural and remote areas, and underserved communities
- A resilient and supported workforce providing high-quality, effective and safe health care
- Access to quality mental health, substance use and addictions services
- Patient access to electronic health information shared between health professionals
New Brunswick’s agreement will mean receiving $3.64 billion over 10 years, including $900 million focused on shared health-care priorities and $42 million to address urgent needs.