The federal government says in a news release that it has signed an agreement in principle with Manitoba to invest more than $6.7 billion in the province's health-care system over 10 years.

That includes more than $1.2 billion for a new bilateral agreement focusing on shared health-care priorities for Manitobans. The priorities mentioned are:

• access to high-quality family health services when they need them, including in rural and remote areas, and for underserved communities;
• a resilient and supported health workforce that provides them high-quality, effective, and safe health care services;
• access to timely, equitable, and quality mental health, substance use and addictions services; and
• access to their own electronic health information that is shared between the health professionals they consult.

The agreement also includes $72 million in an immediate, one-time top up to the Canada Health Transfer paid to Manitoba to address urgent needs, especially in pediatric hospitals and emergency rooms and for long surgical wait times.

The agreements in principle are a first step to completing the $196-billion, 10-year health-care funding proposal that the federal government made on Tuesday, February 7th.

To get the money, the provinces must come up with specific plans showing how they would spend it and how they would prove to Canadians that their health-care systems are getting better.