Opinion: Cowardice and the art of funding health care

Ottawa missed chance to end abortion controversy in New Brunswick with infusion of much-needed cash into health-care system

Much was made of Ottawa's recent announcement of a major boost to health funding to the provinces last month. 

Though the premiers offered up the expected grumbling over the strings attached to the money, the provinces quickly signed agreements with the federal government.

Obviously, requiring certain conditions to be met to qualify for the increased funding was completely reasonable. Any government spending should come with conditions and oversight to avoid misuse and misappropriation.

It was a bit galling to see politicians at both the federal and provincial levels congratulating themselves for taking efforts to improve health care through this new funding. The system has been in crisis for years, and something had to be done.

The photo ops featuring Dominic LeBlanc, Blaine Higgs and other political players patting themselves on the back for delivering this required cash injection after years of neglecting and mismanaging the health-care system were irksome.

Ensuring the fiscal viability of perhaps the most vital and most Canadian of government services is their job, not an instance in which they went above and beyond.

But there was a victory lap available to our political leaders - especially the federal ones - had they bothered to reach out and grasp an easy victory.

The province continues to refuse to fund abortion procedures at Clinic 554 in Fredericton. (Photo: Facebook)

New Brunswick has been in violation of the federal Health Act for decades due to its stance on funding abortion services.

For decades, the province refused to fund abortion services altogether, which led to the late Dr. Henry Morgentaler setting up a private clinic in Fredericton.

In the wake of the pioneering abortion-rights doctor's death, his family stepped away from that legacy, but others took up the cause, and the private facility evolved into Clinic 554.

But even when the provincial government finally bit the bullet and agreed to fund such procedures, it restricted their availability severely, requiring them to be performed in hospitals - and only in approved facilities in Moncton and Bathurst.

The federal government has been threatening for years to hold New Brunswick to account for its antiquated stance on this important component of health care. The sabre-rattling goes back to the days of Jean Chrétien's government, and it's continued under Justin Trudeau.

While health funding was front and centre in Canada, Ottawa could have attached another key condition - enough with the miserly management of abortion funding in New Brunswick.

Predictably, that’s not what happened.

In the wake of the announced funding boost, Ottawa revealed it's penalizing New Brunswick by withholding some funding over the abortion issue - $64,850 this year, according to reporting from Brunswick News. CBC reports Ottawa denied the province a paltry $140,216 for 2021.

That's not even a slap on the wrist. The miniscule amounts are proof of an empty threat, akin to saying, "If you kids don't smarten up, I'm going to turn this car around."

But Trudeau hasn't turned the car around. Instead, he got the kids a PlayStation 5.

Premier Blaine Higgs, left, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are see in this 2019 photo. (Photo: Government of Canada)

While acknowledging the small scale of the clawbacks might not deter the provincial government from continuing its archaic position on abortion, Fredericton MP Jenica Atwin said this week it still sends a message.

She's right, it does. The message: do what you want, we ain't gonna stop you.

It's easy to figure out why the Higgs government has dug in its heels on abortion and its effort to freeze out Clinic 554 even as it opens the door to funding other, less controversial procedures in private clinics. And it’s easy to deduce why federal politicians are all talk but no action on the issue.

Abortion is perceived to have potential serious blowback no matter what position a candidate, MLA or MP takes. Our political representatives in Ottawa and Fredericton alike are scared of the consequences. They see it as a political hot potato.

But is it really?

This is settled law. The majority of Canadians support access to abortion. The days are gone when every politician was asked about their stance on abortion the moment they threw their hat in the ring.

The province’s approach to abortion services is so outdated, it’s like offering a special program in the community college system to bolster the mastodon-hunting trade.

Abortion is now the monster under the bed. There’s no threat there, but politicians are still cowering under the blankets.

It’s time to hammer the final nail in the coffin of the antiquated abortion “debate” in New Brunswick. (Photo: Don MacPherson/The Fredericton Independent)

Campaigning in Fredericton in 2019, Trudeau touted the importance of a woman’s right to choose and promised he’d use “all tools” at his disposal to turn things around in New Brunswick on abortion.

But in 2023, nothing has changed, and the prime minister has done next to nothing.

It’s time to use the right tool for the job. Ottawa has to hammer the point home with real consequences that the provincial government can’t ignore. It has to threaten to hurt health-care funding in New Brunswick to help women and to close the book on what’s really a non-issue.

But instead of using the right tool, Trudeau is just being a tool.

At least he and Higgs have that in common.

Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.