Quebec's taking a hardline approach toward Ottawa on the issue of transfer payments.
Provincial Health minister Gaetan Barrette and provincial as well as territorial counterparts want more federal funding for health care.
They're expressing concern that there's been no payment increase and that funding might have strings attached.
Barrette told reporters, including CTV, talking about conditions before funding is nothing more than a trap.
"The federal government is pushing us into talking about conditions, is their way not to talk about funding and we're all trapped and we're all talking about conditions, strings attached, no strings, loosely attached, tightly attached, whatever, but we're not talking about the real thing that comes first, funding", said Barrette.
Quebec's hardline stance is part of a plan to boost the nearly 6-billion dollars in health care funding transferred in 2016 from the federal government to Quebec.
Barrette said he wants 25 per cent of Quebec's health care budget to come from the feds without restrictions.
Provincial health ministers will meet with federal counterpart Jane Philpott on October 18.
-With files from CTV