Canada's Premiers united on issues including health care and economy



The premiers also emerged from a meeting in Mississauga, Ont., with a call to Ottawa to strengthen a program that provides a financial top-up to provincial governments suffering economic downturns - a key request of Alberta.


They'll look to raise the issues with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau early in the new year, at their first joint meeting with him since a federal election that exposed regional divisions and reduced Trudeau's Liberals to a minority government.



Several premiers said that now may not be the right time for a national pharmacare program - a promise the Liberals made during the federal election and that will require discussion with the provinces - with funding needed to address hospital overcrowding and growing wait times.


“If you can't get that right, don't start with another program.... Don't start broadening health care when you can't get it right now.”


But Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Dwight Ball, who has been supportive of national pharmacare, said that in aging provinces such as his own, diseases are becoming more complex and drugs are becoming more expensive.




“This was a tremendous moment of solidarity,” he said. “I've been trying to convey to Albertans that we are not alone, or isolated in the federation, that there are provincial and territorial governments who get what we're going through and who understand our ask for a fair deal in the Canadian federation.”

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe also credited his fellow premiers for addressing regional economic disparity, particularly in his province, Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador.

“They were unwavering in their support for recommended changes to the Fiscal Stabilization Program,” he said. “I would say that today they had our backs and I will commit to them that we will have theirs when needed as well.”

Under the banner of economic competitiveness, the premiers talked about improving federal environmental assessments by exempting projects under provincial or territorial jurisdiction from mandatory impact assessments and working to eliminate protectionist measures, such as those on softwood lumber.


The premiers also avoided other divisive issues, such as carbon pricing and Quebec's controversial secularism law known as Bill 21.

The northern priorities the premiers identified were infrastructure investment and support for climate action to fight, mitigate and adapt to rapidly changing environments in the North.