Trudeau, Kinew to announce bilateral health funding agreements for Manitoba

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Winnipeg Thursday to announce two health-care funding agreements with Manitoba.

One is the Working Together bilateral agreement, worth $1.2 billion over 10 years, and the other is called Aging with Dignity, a provincial spokesperson said.

«Funding will be used to help Manitoba lower wait times, in part by reaching its commitment to hire 400 doctors, 300 nurses, 200 paramedics, 100 home care workers,» the spokesperson wrote in an email to CBC News.

The announcement with Trudeau and Premier Wab Kinew is scheduled for 12:30 p.m.

The bilateral agreements are intended to be flexible and tailored, so provinces and territories can address the unique needs of their populations and geography, the federal government says.

The funding was first pitched one year ago by Trudeau, when he met with Canada's premiers about a 10-year, $196-billion federal health-care plan, of which $46.2 billion is new money.

Of that latter figure, $25 billion was set aside for separate deals with each province and territory, aimed at directing funds toward a set of specific priorities, including primary care, mental health and hiring more doctors and nurses.

Federal officials then toured the country, meeting individually with provincial leaders to finalize the deal and discuss where the funding would be allocated in each location. Their Manitoba stop happened in February.

Each province was then required to submit an agreement in principle to Ottawa, detailing where it planned to invest the money, followed by an action plan for making that happen.

Thursday's announcement with Trudeau is expected to provide more specific details on how the money will be used by Manitoba.