Manitoba premier says Trudeau showed 'no empathy' for cancer patient

When Conservative Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the long wait time faced by a woman seeking a cancer diagnosis, the Prime Minister allegedly responded "I'm not your banker," Huffington Post reports.

"Canadians don’t need a banker, we need a partner," Pallister says he responded with.

The exchange allegedly took place five years ago, not long after Trudeau was sworn into office as prime minister. The Prime Minister's Office has denied the allegations, with Trudeau press secretary Alex Wellstead saying "we don't know what the Premier is talking about."

"Every single step of the way, the Prime Minister & the federal government have worked collaboratively with premiers to have Canadians' backs through this crisis," Wellstead claimed. "That continues to be our number one focus."

Pallister said he did not understand the prime minister's motivation to not work with the provinces on increasing healthcare funding.

"I think it comes down to: thinking with your head, in the absence of your empathy, is a danger," he said. "I don't know why any prime minister would not understand the importance and urgency of dealing with this issue."

The woman who Pallister was referring to was eventually diagnosed with cancer.

"[It's] too bad we couldn't have caught this sooner," a doctor told the woman.

Pallister made the comments at a joint news conference on Thursday where he called upon the federal government to provide more funding for healthcare in the provinces alongside other premiers.

The premiers are asking for $28 billion from the federal government in additional healthcare funding, which would mean the federal government covers 35 percent of the total cost of healthcare. As of now, the federal government covers only 22 percent.

According to the premiers, the additional funding is needed to handle the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a backlog of surgeries, growing cases of mental illness, and lengthy wait times which have plagued the Canadian healthcare system since well before the pandemic.

Pallister says that the problems in Canada's healthcare system are not the fault of Trudeau, "except if he ignores the problem, and then it becomes his fault."