Legault assured forward of assembly with Trudeau on well being care

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LÉRY, QUE. — Premier François Legault says he’s assured a nationwide settlement on health-care financing is at hand, however says he considers a Feb. 7 assembly of the premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to be a negotiating session.

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It gained’t be the day the 2 sides — which have been sparring in regards to the situation for months — ink a deal, Legault mentioned. He additionally famous there may be nonetheless no greenback determine on the desk.

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“I spoke final night time with Justin Trudeau,” Legault instructed reporters following a tour Wednesday to one of many authorities’s “new era” elementary faculties, L’Archipel elementary, in Léry, not removed from Châteauguay.

“As I mentioned earlier than Christmas following my assembly with Mr. Trudeau, this situation is advancing nicely. I’m optimistic we can attain a conclusion to extend health-care financing.

“What’s essential, and I’ve been saying this from the start, is that we (in Quebec) have already got a well being plan. We’d like the federal authorities to not redo the plan, however to assist us finance it. We must always have the ability to attain an settlement … with out circumstances.”

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Legault insisted he doesn’t see the assembly as make-or-break. Quebec and the opposite provinces shaped a typical entrance to press Ottawa to funnel more cash to them in an effort to cope with the skyrocketing prices of the system, for which the provinces are mainly accountable.

“(The assembly is) to barter,” Legault mentioned. “It’s a working assembly, so we don’t count on that we conclude and signal a deal Feb. 7. However we have now been asking Ottawa for years to desk a proposition. Justin tells me he’ll desk a proposal. We, the provinces and territories, have a typical entrance.

“It’s essential to proceed defending this frequent entrance, however I’m completely satisfied, and it’s a step in the correct route that there’s a proposal tabled by Mr. Trudeau.”

Legault mentioned he agreed with Trudeau’s remark that fixing the issues within the health-care system is not only a query of cash. Additionally it is a matter of group.

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“I’ll let Mr. (Christian) Dubé (the well being minister) clarify. He has already began giving interviews about how we’re going to create Santé Québec, how we are going to decentralize. There are negotiations began with the nurses. Their contracts finish March 31, 2023.

“We’ll attempt to attain extra flexibility and extra decentralization in terms of work schedules, to eliminate non-public businesses and compulsory time beyond regulation. So it’s true it’s not only a query of cash, however the huge problem now could be to search out employees and be certain that we will have some flexibility.”

Trudeau introduced Wednesday that he had invited the premiers to Ottawa for a “working assembly” on health-care funding.

He, too, pressured he “gained’t be signing offers” on the assembly.

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The federal authorities argues it already offers sufficient financing. The provinces need the health-care switch to extend. Assembly their goal would price Ottawa $28 billion.

Legault made his remarks following a tour of the gleaming L’Archipel elementary constructing, one among 4 “new era” faculties the federal government has lately opened. He was accompanied by Training Minister Bernard Drainville, who has been criticized in latest weeks over his lack of public statements.

Designed to be student-friendly, the faculties are constructed principally with Quebec metal, aluminum and wooden within the type of large assist beams. The larger home windows enable extra mild and create a greater studying surroundings, officers on the faculty mentioned. The federal government intends to construct 135 such faculties over the following 10 years.

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The brand new faculties distinction sharply with most basic faculties in Quebec, that are in determined want of upgrades.

The timing of the go to was no coincidence. On Thursday, Drainville plans to announce his imaginative and prescient for the training system. He’ll current his concepts, being tagged “seven priorities for instructional success,” at a two-day Coalition Avenir Québec caucus assembly in Laval.

All 90 CAQ MNAs are attending the assembly, which is to plan methods for work as soon as the Nationwide Meeting resumes sitting on Jan. 31.

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