Premiers need to keep talking about the health-care crisis: medical associations

A nurse is silhouetted behind a glass panel as she tends to a patient at an Ontario hospital, on Tuesday, January 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

The Canadian Medical Association and 14 other organizations representing health workers are urging premiers to keep health care at the top of the agenda at their next meeting in July.

The provincial and territorial leaders met several times last year to compare notes on the health-care crisis and call on the federal government to give them more money to fix it.

In February, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a deal that will see Ottawa give $196 billion for the Canada Health Transfer over the next 10 years.

All provinces except Quebec have agreed to the deal in principle.

In a press release on behalf of several doctors' and nurses' associations, the Canadian Medical Association says the deals are a positive step but the health-care crisis has not ended.

They say excessive wait times, a lack of primary care, a shortage of workers and overcapacity in emergency rooms should all be on the premiers' agenda.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 5, 2022.