The nation’s territorial and provincial premiers convened in Winnipeg today, picking through a three-day agenda to address a number of issues.
Top of mind at the day’s meeting was health care, which comes on the heels of a $46 billion funding announcement from the federal government to be used to revamp Canada’s public health care system.
Announced in February, the funding puts the onus of health care reforms on provinces and territories, requiring submitted plans on the targets and timelines that would be used to turn the cash into viable fixes.
Quebec remains the sole province to not have accepted the funding offer, although none have provided any such plans.
Alika Lafontaine, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said a meeting like this needs to ensure that proper action is taken based on benchmarks that make a difference. The hope, he said, is that work is done to improve access to care for patients, whilst improving the working conditions of health care providers.
“As we change the way (on what) we measure, we change the way that fund and that transforms the experience of patients,” said Lafontaine. “The $46 billion is a start and hopefully the spark that we need to get people to think differently.”
According to him, government leaders need to shift the way they approach solutions; moving away from simply measuring how fast patients are seen by providers to measure things like the how much are practitioners burned out.
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The medical association goes further in describing the targets they hope to see from provinces and territories, from a July 5 press release:
- Eliminating hospital emergency department closures within three years.
- Increasing the number of net new family physicians to 7,500 over five years and 15,000 over 10 years.
- Increasing the number of Canadians that have a regular primary care provider.
- Reducing the median wait time for community mental health and substance use services to two weeks by 2028, and to one week by 2033.
- Ensuring that 75 per cent of Canadians can access their own electronic health records within five years, bringing that number to 90 per cent within a decade.
David Eby, the premier for British Columbia, said some of the big challenges across the country are aging seniors, increasing demands, and the push to meet that demand. He noted that while provinces look at bringing in nurses and health-care providers from other countries, there needs to be a long-term investment in education and training for local practitioners.
“In terms of the discussion here, aligning our efforts so we’re not competing with each other for these health care professionals. We’re not driving up costs without improving results for Canadians,” said Eby, referring to the three-day meeting with the rest of the premiers.
“The kind of coordination of a national health care system is really an opportunity that’s presented here.”
Locally, Manitoba has been working to address concerns related to its own health care system. Recently, 300 internationally educated and professional workers from the Philippines were offered positions in the province. This was part of a recruitment mission in the province, fillings up vacancies for registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and health-care aides.
At the same time, the sexual assault nurse examiners program in Winnipeg continues to remain a short-staffed program.
While health care remains a priority-level topic, other leaders addressed topics they felt were of similar urgency. Ontario’s Doug Ford and Nunavut’s P.J. Akeeagok both suggested infrastructure as a priority.
“Making sure we work collaboratively with all three levels of government,” said Ford, when asked how the issue of infrastructure could be tackled. “Ontario is the fastest-growing region in North America.”
Meetings will wrap up on July 12, with other issues like the economy, housing and affordability on the agenda.
— With files from Global’s Katherine Dornian
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