The Federal Context

Within the federal government, however, attention was focused on patriating the Canadian constitution and developing such economic strategies as the National Energy Program to maintain Canadian control of its development. The appointment of a Parliamentary Task Force on Federal–Provincial Fiscal Arrangements, chaired by New Brunswick Member of Parliament Herb Breau, was intended to provide an all-party review of federal and provincial finances and spending. It strongly endorsed medicare and argued that federal funding should be maintained, that the provinces and the CMA were incorrect in their claims of underfunding, and that revised legislation to consolidate and clarify the principles on which the program was based should be created. This report enabled Minister Bégin and her staff to continue working on a solution, and in July 1983 the Department of National Health and Welfare published Preserving Universal Medicare: A Government of Canada Position Paper.

The Canadian Medical Association formed its own Task Force on the Allocation of Health Care Resources, shown meeting in Toronto in 1983. Roy Romanow (fourth from the right) is sitting to the right of the Chair, Joan Watson.
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