Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen says he is disappointed in what happened Monday in Ottawa. Provincial Finance and Health Ministers were summoned to Ottawa by the federal Finance Minister to discuss a long term deal for future federal health care funding. Goertzen says it turned out to be anything but a discussion.

"The Finance Minister said, sorry, you can either take our offer or not. We're not here to talk and we're not here to negotiate. We don't really want to listen to what your concerns are in the provinces and we don't want to talk about your offer. That was a shock, I think, to all provinces who had come from across the country to be there. If there wasn't going to be a negotiation, the Finance Minister could have sent it in an e-mail. Then, when the provinces said, well, we'd like to discuss this, the federal government shut down the meeting and said, no, it's not up for discussion."

Goertzen says the premiers have now requested a meeting with the Prime Minister to take this issue to a higher level and he is hopeful that can result in some dialogue on this matter. Ottawa has offered funding increase in the range of 3-3.5 per cent which Goertzen says is woefully inadequate.

"The Conference Board of Canada says that the health care inflation, so separate from other inflation in other parts of the economy, is 5.2 per cent. That is the increased cost of drugs, the increased cost of innovation in health care and the pressures on services that exist and are growing each and every year in health care, 5.2 per cent, according to the Conference Board, essentially keeps the lights on. It doesn't improve the health care system but it keeps pace with the demands that are happening within the health care system."

Goertzen says Manitoba currently receives only 19 per cent of its funding for health care from the federal government. And, under the plan presented by Ottawa yesterday, he says that would fall into the range of 15 per cent.