Healthcare dominated discussion among 13 Premiers during their Council of the Federation summer meetings.
They’re calling on the federal government to sit down with them to talk about funding for the future.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said there’s a lot of work to be done.
“The only thing we’re asking for is the federal government to come and talk to us about it,” Houston added. “And if they don’t want to do that, because they’re afraid it’s going to cost them money. Well, then there’s a lot of big issues that we need to get through.”
A majority of Canadians agree that federal funding must be sustainable and flexible.
The Premiers shared stories over the past two days in Victoria, British Columbia, about the struggle of frontline staff.
“Emergency room physicians who are just burnt out and exhausted and are afraid they’re going to make a mistake at work because they’re tired, they need help, they need our support,” stressed Houston. “Those are the outcomes that we want to address and we just want to talk to the federal government. The only thing that is stopping that progress on that is the federal government’s willingness to just sit down and talk to us. That’s all we’re asking for. It’s really not meant to be a controversial ask, just come and talk to us. In Nova Scotia, there are nurses being called in from vacation. Those are the outcomes we want to fix. That’s what we want to talk to the federal government about,” Houston added.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs made comparisons of two healthcare providers, Vitalité and Horizon Health Networks used in his province and how they work together.
“We need better health care that’s delivered every day by the people that know it best,” mentioned Higgins. “And I think it’s time we listen to those people and got their information firsthand about how we can change. When we talk about the interaction between provinces, how do we not duplicate services. We have two health care systems Vitalité and Horizon, but we work together like never before to deliver health care in the province. We learned that we can do that better together than we could as two independent. We have two systems, but they can complement each other in their service delivery. And I think what we’re seeing is we can broaden that between provinces and we’ve had that discussion in Atlantic Canada. So the opportunity for us to be better at what we do is all part and parcel to get more money to help us there, but we can deliver a better result, with people being part of that solution.”
British Columbia Premier John Horgan, the chair for the 2022 Council of the Federation, says during COVID, there was a collaboration between the provinces and the federal government, “Eight months later, we’re exchanging notes through the media. Where’d the love go? Everything was so fine and then it wasn’t.”
He expected once the pandemic was over, a meeting about healthcare would be held, but one hasn’t been scheduled.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford went on to say, “We need to sit down. Canadians expect it, They expect us to work together. The burnt-out nurse that is working around the clock, 24-hour shifts, they need help from the province and the feds. We cannot continue at the pace we are going without the support of the federal government. Just come to the table. It’s not you against us. We just need your help.”
