Michael Ignatieff says a Liberal government would not allow provinces to impose health-care user fees.

His assertion amounts to a reversal for the Liberal leader, who initially gave thumbs-up to a Quebec proposal to charge $25 for each visit to a doctor's office.

Ignatieff originally said the proposal conformed with the Canada Health Act, which explicitly prohibits user fees and empowers the federal government to financially penalize provinces that impose them.

However, he said on Wednesday in Ottawa that he was only applauding the Quebec government's intention to find a solution to escalating health-care costs within the framework of the health act.

But he says, as far as the Liberal Party is concerned, the act does not permit user fees of any kind.

The user-fee proposal was part of the recent Quebec budget, which also introduced a new annual health "contribution," or premium, which would start at $25 this year, rising to $200 in 2012.