“If you need unity, then we’ll be there for unity’s sake.”

That was the message Premier Sandy Silver relayed to his provincial and territorial counterparts during health funding negotiations in Ottawa late last year, he told the Star Dec. 20.

He said the Yukon would stand in allegiance with the other provinces and territories in their efforts to secure higher annual funding rates than what was on offer from the federal government.

Now, the Yukon, the other territories and most of the smaller provinces have broken rank and signed their own, bilateral health agreements with Ottawa.

Once other provinces started signing side deals with Ottawa, the Yukon government decided it was in the territory’s best interest to do the same, Pauline Frost, the minister of Health and Social Services, said in an interview this morning.

The Yukon penned its health agreement with Ottawa on Jan. 16.

“Yukon’s desire was to stand with a united North at that time, to make the best deal for Yukon and leave no money on the table,” she said.

But NDP MLA Kate White questions whether straying from the pack was the right move.

“We were the chair of the COF (Council of the Federation) when we broke rank,” she said in an interview Thursday.

“I like to think if we were ever to hold on, it would be when we were in a leadership role.”

White wondered what kind of deal the Yukon might have received had the territory stood by the larger provinces.

“The territories, we get lumped together, and we get kind of bullied into saying yes to things,” she said.

“Without saying yes to things, would we have gotten less? Maybe, but maybe not.”

White is glad that home care and mental health are being recognized, but said the amount of money that will be funneled into services is negligible.

The Yukon will get $6.2 million for home care and $5.2 million for mental health initiatives over the next 10 years.

In 2016-17 alone, the Yukon’s home care budget was $6 million.

(The mental health budget is woven into other branches and is harder to parse, said Pat Living, a Department of Health and Social Services spokesperson.)

“It’s nothing,” said White of the designated home care and mental health funds coming down from Ottawa.

“In the grand scheme of things, I’d say it’s literally a drop in the bucket; it’s not extra.”

It’s misguided to think of the new funds for home care and mental health as additional money, she said, considering that the annual increase in the health transfer, known as the escalator, is dropping.

Starting April 1, the Canada Health Transfer to the Yukon will increase either by three per cent per year, or according to nominal GDP growth, depending on which is higher.

This is down from the previous arrangement, which saw a six per cent annual increase in the Canada Health Transfer.

At negotiations in December, the provinces and territories called for a 5.2 per cent increase to the health transfer escalator, but the feds wouldn’t budge.

Since then, the Atlantic provinces (save Prince Edward Island), Saskatchewan and the territories have made their own deals with the federal government, agreeing to the three per cent increase.

If, however, any province negotiates a better deal, the other jurisdictions have the option to adopt those terms, confirmed Frost.

The health minister said she’s not “overly optimistic” that another province could negotiate even a four per cent increase to the escalator.

“It seems right now that the (federal) government is pretty steadfast in their position,” she said.

While White is glad the Yukon has struck a long-term deal, she said the amount promised for mental health and home care isn’t nearly enough to address the territory’s infrastructure and personnel needs.

There’s a dearth of mental health care workers in the Yukon, she noted.

And, apart from the secure medical unit at the Whitehorse General Hospital, she added, there is no inpatient facility for people living with mental health issues.

Frost acknowledged that the federal contribution for home care and mental health is a “small amount of money.”

But it’s the boost the government needs to start exploring areas of need, she said.

Tiffanie Tasane, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Yukon, called the new mental health funding “a great step in the right direction,” in an email Thursday.

“We look forward to seeing the plan for how this funding will be allocated and are hopeful that early intervention, prevention and education will be considered as priorities.”

In 2017-18, the Yukon will receive $38 million in federal health transfer funds, and additional money for medical travel, the amount of which has yet to be determined, said Frost.

As of December, there were 601 patients receiving home care in the Yukon, and 59 full-time equivalent home care staff positions – 22 in the communities and 27 in Whitehorse.

There was no wait list for home care at the end of last year, said Living.

“We have one of the most robust home care systems in the country,” she said.