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Going into the premiers' conference, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said health care would be on the agenda but the focus would be on how to keep the system sustainable with the fiscal pressures of an aging population.

Natalie Mehra, director of the Ontario Health Coalition, said publicly funded health care should be an important topic of discussion because the provincial and territorial leaders don't have another meeting before the federal Health Accord ends in 2014."The (Stephen) Harper government refuses to meet with the premiers. There are no First Ministers meetings," Mehra said. "And what hangs in the balance is nothing less than $36 billion worth of funding... this is a vital issue to all Canadians."

Going into the premiers' conference, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne said health care would be on the agenda but the focus would be on how to keep the system sustainable with the fiscal pressures of an aging population

October 17th, 2014 Simon Enoch

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall once again stirred the privatization pot yesterday when he took to social media to ask: “Is it time to allow people to pay for their own private MRI’s in Saskatchewan like they can do in Alberta?” The Premier’s twitter trial balloon suggests the government will argue that allowing private, for-profit MRIs will help reduce wait times in the public system. The Premier himself added: “It does make sense that the wait list is going to shrink because those who want to pay will come off that public wait list and they’ll get their MRIs and thereby shortening the wait list for all, whether they want to pay or not.”

Toronto Star Tue Sep 1 2015

Co-operation between the federal government and the provinces has been crucial to inking major deals in Canadian history, from health care to the Constitution. 1931: Progressive Conservative prime minister R.B. Bennett hosts a "dominion-provincial conference" in Ottawa on the Statute of Westminster.

That was the British law giving "dominions" - such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa - legislative independence from Great Britain. Aiding Bennett and the then nine premiers - Newfoundland did not join Canada until 1949 - was a young conference secretary named Lester B. Pearson. 1963: Pearson, the newly elected Liberal prime minister, brings together all 10 premiers - including Newfoundland's Joey Smallwood, the last surviving Father of Confederation - to discuss a new Canada Pension Plan.

January 30, 2015 – Ottawa, ON – Winter Meeting of Canada’s Premiers

Ongoing collaboration on seniors’ care and aging.

Ongoing collaboration on pharmaceuticals that is saving millions of dollars. Premiers are encouraged by the accelerated work to lower drug costs – current annual savings are estimated to be $315 million.

August 28, 2014 – Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island – 55th Annual Premiers’ Conference

Today, under the leadership of Premier Robert Ghiz, Chair of the Council of the Federation for 2014-2015, Canada’s Premiers will launch a dialogue with Canadians and engage key stakeholders on aging, and create a Task Force to look at the impacts an aging population will have on Canada’s social and economic future. This work will raise awareness on the changing social and economic needs associated with an aging population and highlight work that provinces and territories are undertaking to address these issues. The Task Force work will build on existing work, notably that of the Health Care Innovation Working Group, and provide an opportunity for provinces and territories to share best practices, engage experts and provide evidence based information to Premiers on the social and economic impacts of aging.

Christy Clark

"The premiers were unanimous that the federal government's decision to unilaterally decide funding was both unprecedented and unacceptable."

Among the proposals being floated by premiers such as Ontario's Dalton McGuinty and Saskatchewan's Brad Wall is a federal "innovation fund

Prime Minister Stephen Harper says he hopes provincial and territorial leaders can "put the funding issue aside" as they discuss the future of health care in Canada.

In an interview with the CBC's Peter Mansbridge that was broadcast Monday on The National, Harper indicates the provinces won't be getting any cash beyond what has already been committed.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty abruptly announced last month that Ottawa will guarantee health-care funding increases of six per cent until the 2016-17 fiscal year. After that, the annual increase will be tied to the nominal GDP, the monetary value of all goods and services produced within the country annually, including inflation. Funding increases of at least three per cent will be guaranteed.

Western premiers on Tuesday announced a joint mission to Ottawa

under the auspices of the New West Partnership, a two-year-old initiative designed to break down trade barriers among the three provinces and boost economic prospects

The Western premiers want the federal government to continue to provide the full six per cent.

Canadian Press Thu Jul 16 2015

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - Canada's premiers are asking the federal government for more health care funding, saying an increase would help transform the existing health care system and offset the impact of an aging population. A statement from Premier Paul Davis of Newfoundland and Labrador says the premiers are asking Ottawa to increase the Canada Health Transfer to cover at least 25 per cent of all health-care spending by the provinces and territories. The statement released by Davis's office after Thursday's Council of the Federation meeting in St. John's says that each province and territory faces similar challenges, including increased overall health care costs, a rising need for home and palliative care and support for "informal" caregivers.

"Premiers discussed the ... growing financial pressures population aging will have on their governments, particularly regarding health care," reads the statement. "These financial pressures reinforce the need for the federal government to increase its funding for health care." An emailed statement from Health Minister Rona Ambrose's office says the Conservatives have transferred the highest amounts in history to the provinces and territories for health care and are on track to reach $40 billion annually by the end of the decade. It says Ottawa will provide $27 billion for health care over the next five years, and health funding was being increased at a higher rate than the provinces were spending it. Outside the meeting, a small demonstration called attention to medicare funding. Debbie Forward, president of the Registered Nurses Union of Newfoundland and Labrador, said the federal government is not paying its fair share for health care. Forward said a report released Thursday by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions estimates that proposed federal funding changes could drain more than $43 billion from the health system over the next eight years.

Calgary Herald Thu Jul 9 2015

The approval of a full-service cancer hospital at the Foothills Hospital site - a massive fiveyear enterprise - is a victory for the NDP in Calgary, and an even bigger one for patients. Premier Rachel Notley and her health minister, Sarah Hoffman, delivered on their promise to reverse the Prentice government's appalling decision to cancel a hospital 12 years in the planning. For a while there, the NDP had us wondering. Notley said she liked the Foothills site, but they had to consider, they had to be sure.

After so many years of PC stalling, that raised doubts. But now the NDP has given the green light only six weeks after taking office. This will allow the plans to be finalized and the first funds to be approved in the fall budget. Construction should begin next year. At the deepest level, this is about patients, and suffering, and proper health care, not about politics or economics. Hoffman said it Wednesday - it has to be done for the sake of patients, no matter whether oil prices are high or low. Every cancer doctor in southern Alberta knows that a genuine crisis is brewing in southern Alberta cancer care. The small, outdated Tom Baker Cancer Centre simply isn't big enough, and that forces patients into external sites around the city.

The Globe and Mail Mon Sep 26 2016

Justin Trudeau faces tough talks with provincial premiers to hammer out a national climate-change plan. But he also has a critical tool to get a deal: cash. At first blush, the meeting with premiers seems to be shaping up as a clash. The federal government wants provinces to put a price on carbon, either through a carbon tax or a capand-trade system. And if they don't, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna has warned, Ottawa will slap a federal carbon tax on them. Four provinces have a carbon price now, but some premiers are wary, and Saskatchewan's Brad Wall sounds implacably opposed.

Then again, the premiers want something, too: money. Most provinces have high debt, and fear aging populations will mean rising costs in social programs and health care. They're clamouring for Ottawa to provide bigger-than-planned increases in health transfers. In other words, the premiers can probably be bought off. Put that way, of course, it sounds cynical. But it's been a formula for federal-provincial dealmaking for decades. The federal Liberals are already promising $2.9-billion over five years for climate-change measures, including $2-billion in the next two years to start a Low Carbon Economy Fund for projects chosen with the provinces. But money for other things could also be used to grease the wheels. The provinces want bigger streams of health-care money, but so far the federal Liberals aren't promising much. On Sunday, Health Minister Jane Philpott said she's working on the assumption there won't be much change, aside from a $3-billion federal injection for home care.

Immigration, energy and health-care among hot topics at gathering in Annapolis Royal

May 16, 2016

The four Atlantic premiers have found a way to save money by joining forces to buy diagnostic health-care equipment, but say what they really need is a new deal with Ottawa to ensure adequate health services. During a meeting that wrapped up Monday in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Royal, the premiers discussed topics such as immigration and energy as well as the need to address health care in the region.

Tackling innovation solo, premiers hope to lure PM back to health table

As a start, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz will lead the work that aims to draft national standards to ensure innovations are shared between the country’s 13 separate health-care systems.

They’ll also look at ways to try to limit competition for health workers, and opened the door to a national fee structure for services.

Premiers acknowledged the Prime Minister’s commitment in the recent federal Speech from the Throne to continuing the 6% escalator on the Canada Health Transfer (CHT) while working collaboratively to renew the Health Accord and to enter into a separate agreement with the Government of Quebec regarding the implementation of the renewed Health Accord. Premiers agree that increases in CHT funding should not be financed by reducing other major transfers.

Premiers agreed to meet again early in the new year on an integrated approach to sustainable health. Premiers will work together on identifying key principles that should govern a new agreement on health care with the federal government.  Their discussions will also focus on innovations to modernize health care services that will bring savings to be reinvested in health care systems. Premiers directed their government departments to work together to support their discussion in early 2012.

Prince Edward Island Premier Robert Ghiz and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall will co-chair the group, whose members will include health ministers from the provinces and territories.

The innovation group will work in consultation with health-care providers and will cover three key areas: scope of practice of health-care workers, human resources and clinical practice guidelines. It will provide its first report at a meeting of premiers and territorial leaders in July in Halifax.

The working group plans to work in close consultation with frontline health workers and the organizations that represent them.

14 different sponsors — each paying between $10,000 and $50,000 for preferential access to the premiers — are contributing a combined $225,000 to cover most of the social event costs at the three-day premiers conference

lobby groups from the insurance, oil and gas, electricity, pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors

Labour groups, like in past years, are also expected to participate in the social gatherings

Toronto Star Sun Apr 26 2015

When Dalton McGuinty first took office back in 2003, he declared he wanted to be known as the "education premier." During his term, McGuinty made education a top priority, introducing forward-looking policies that turned the troubled, cash-starved Ontario system into a world leader, with high-school graduation rates up, more students in colleges and universities and full-day kindergarten a reality. By the time he stepped down in 2013, he had deservedly earned the title of "education premier." Kathleen Wynne, who has been Ontario's premier for more than two years now, should take a long, hard look at what McGuinty achieved and how he did it.

That's because Wynne, in sharp contrast to McGuinty, seems to be a premier without a clear personal agenda and without a sense of what her own top priority is or how she would like to be remembered when her days as premier are over. That was never more evident than in the austerity-driven Ontario budget her Liberal government tabled on Thursday. Yes, the budget contained promises to rebuild the province's crumbling highways and sewer lines, allow beer in supermarkets and sell off Hydro One. But it lacks any sign of new progressive, forward-looking policies that would make a real difference in the lives of Ontario residents for years to come.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard is pushing his fellow premiers to adopt a new funding formula for health care transfer payments that would take into account a province’s aging population.The rookie federalist Premier is making his case behind closed doors at the Council of the Federation meeting in Charlottetown Thursday. He is hoping that his colleagues will accept his proposal and then lobby the federal government to change its formula, which many provinces argue punishes them for having an older population.

Ottawa not paying its fair share for health care, nurses' union leader says

Jul 16, 2015

Canada's premiers are asking the federal government for more health care funding, saying an increase would help transform the existing health care system and offset the impact of an aging population. A statement from Premier Paul Davis of Newfoundland and Labrador says the premiers are asking Ottawa to increase the Canada Health Transfer to cover at least 25 per cent of all health-care spending by the provinces and territories.