Federal government signs $3.1-billion health accord deal with Ontario

Ontario will spend $3.1 billion in federal health-care funding on increasing access to family doctors, reducing backlogs and adding more health-care workers, the premier and the prime minister announced Friday as they formalized a decade-long health accord.

The funding covers three years out of the $8.4-billion 10-year agreement in principle the federal government reached last year with the province, part of an overall $198.6 billion for health funding across the country. Ontario is the fifth province to officially sign on for its share.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the money will help ease pressures that health systems across the country are facing.

“Access to family doctors and nurse practitioners is not what it needs to be,” he said at a news conference.

“Emergency rooms are overwhelmed. People are waiting too long for surgeries and health-care workers … are under immense pressure, working in incredibly trying conditions. So we are focused on addressing those challenges.”

Premier Doug Ford said Ontario has made progress on shortening wait times and increasing access to primary care, but there is more to do.

“This $3.1 billion investment will be used for targeted initiatives to continue building up our health workforce, improve access to family health services, enhanced mental health and addiction programs, and expand access to digital health,” he said.

“It will help to ensure that people across Ontario will continue to get the high quality convenient care they need when they need it.”

The Ontario Nurses’ Association questioned the rosy statistics presented at the news conference by the premier and Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones, including numbers of new nurses in the province.

“If we have so many new nurses, why is