Hon. Claude Carignan: Honourable senators, the first ministers’ meeting on health care took place yesterday. Prime Minister Trudeau had announced that he would make a substantial offer to premiers with respect to increasing health transfers in light of current needs. He offered $4.6 billion a year over 10 years. That’s only 16% of what the provinces and territories were asking for. That falls far short of being a substantial offer and is nowhere near the type of funding that would help support health systems and address the issues they’ve been having.

Leader, I understand that in a negotiation some strategists may decide to start off with a low or ridiculous offer, but that is rarely met with success. Don’t you believe that the federal government, by offering 16% of the funding requested, is sending a message to the provinces and territories that 84% of what they requested isn’t needed to maintain and improve health care?