“The status quo isn’t working, folks,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said at a news conference after the meeting. “We have to be creative, we have to find ideas from [health care] sector.” Ford met with premiers Blaine Higgs of New Brunswick, Tim Houston of Nova Scotia and Dennis King of Prince Edward Island during the summit. Ford said health care was “the number one priority” during the meeting, which was also attended by Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc. Ford said the premiers had a “phenomenal conversation” with LeBlanc about the challenges facing provincial health care systems. “Urgent action is needed if the federal government is to ensure the sustainability of health care and services across Canada,” Higgs said. Disputes over health care funding have strained the relationship between Canada’s premiers and the federal government for years, but the increasingly dire situation in hospitals and emergency departments has prompted premiers to push for change more aggressively. . At a gathering of all provincial and territorial leaders in July, British Columbia Premier John Horgan said Canadian health care has deteriorated to the point where Canada will have to “reimagine” how public health care is delivered. Premiers say Ottawa needs to increase its share of health care funding from 22 to 35 per cent in order to build a sustainable and properly functioning system. The federal government argues that the calculations used by the provinces do not accurately account for Ottawa’s contributions to provincial health care services.
More private care an option
Ford’s Progressive Conservative government has outlined a plan to relieve pressure on Ontario’s health care system by funding more surgeries performed at private clinics, among other proposed changes. Hundreds of organizations in Ontario’s health care sector have vowed to fight what they see as the growing privatization of the system. But after Monday’s meeting, Ford wasn’t the only prime minister to entertain the idea of moving more services to the private sector. Higgs said he would consider changes in New Brunswick if they could be done “in a constructive way that sees results.” “Everything is a possibility in terms of how we can improve health care,” he said, later noting that any changes being considered should be considered “publicly funded health care.” Dr. Michael Gardam, CEO of Health PEI, said he was pleased to see the premiers candidly discussing the challenges facing their health care systems. “I’m personally very encouraged that we’re not hearing the rhetoric that we might have heard a few years ago about how we have the best health care system in the world and nothing needs to change,” Gardam told CBC News Network. Gardam, who leads PEI’s public health authority, cautioned against using further privatization as a possible solution. “We need to think carefully about whether we’re going to get the most bang for our buck or whether we’re just going to starve the public system in order to get better access for people in another environment,” he said.
