Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos said that provinces focusing on dollar amounts and percentages of health transfers is a "futile battle," and Canadian premiers should instead focus on achieving results, such as recruiting and retaining healthcare professionals, and delivering care to people.

Duclos also told Joyce Napier during the question period on CTV in an interview aired on Sunday: "If dollars were the solution to the problem, the issue could have been resolved quickly because provinces and territories on average already have surpluses."

The first in-person meetings in four years between Duclos and regional health ministers ended in a deadlock this week, with the latter saying — before concluding talks — that "no progress has been made."

Canada's premiers also called on the federal government to increase health care transfers — the long-term and predictable funding provided by the federal government to provinces and territories, known as the Canada Health Transfer — from 22 percent to 35 percent.

The federal government, for its part, agreed to send more money to provinces and territories, but under certain conditions, including expanding the "use of shared key health indicators," and building a "world-class health data system," according to a statement from Duclos' office.

Also, Duclos said that focusing on percentages does not help health ministers, who allegedly received "marching orders" from premiers not to work with him before signing a deal to increase the Canada Health Transfer, adding: "My job is not to send dollars to finance ministers, but my job is to ensure that everything we do helps my colleagues, the health ministers, to do the hard and important work they want to do and want to continue doing."

Duclos insisted that he and his counterparts in the provinces and territories work well together, but he blames premiers for eliminating any hopes of progress in reforming Canada's dysfunctional healthcare system, saying: "Premiers want us to insist only on the dollars, which you know are not the solution, we need to agree on the goals before we reach the means to achieve those goals."