The Trudeau government’s introduced legislation that would see cash-strapped provinces, territories and municipalities receive $7.2-billion with over half going to healthcare.

If passed, Bill C-25 would result in a $4-billion one-time hike to the Canada Health Transfer; Ottawa’s portion of the cost of delivering health services.

That’s well short of the $28-billion premiers have been pushing for.

They’ve asked for a permanent increase in the federal share of health costs from roughly 22% to 35%, along with a minimum annual increase of 5%.

The legislation also proposes $1-billion would support COVID-19 immunization campaigns.

The remaining $2.2-billion would go to the Gas Tax Fund; a twice-yearly payment to provinces and territories, which in turn, transfer money to municipalities to support local infrastructure projects.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the planned spending is a down payment on programs that’ll be fully spelled out in the April 19 budget.