Skip to main content

Talk of public health-care system being on 'brink of disaster,' as premiers hold meeting

Share
VICTORIA -

Canadian nursing leaders say they've sent a message to the premiers as they meet this week that patients and nurses are suffering through a "dire staffing crisis" that threatens the sustainability of public health care.

A statement from Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses, says the system is "on the brink of disaster" and nursing leaders shared proposed solutions today as the premiers start their Council of the Federation meeting.

Silas says nurses have been "struggling through extreme staffing shortages, forced overtime and cancelled vacations, with no end in sight" to untenable conditions.

The federation says its proposals focus on retaining nurses, encouraging them to return to the profession and the public health-care system, and new measures to recruit and train the next generation.

Silas says provincial commitments to strengthen health care are welcome, but "no one province or territory can solve this on their own" and federal funding will be key.

B.C. Premier John Horgan, the host and chair of the Council of the Federation, has said health funding will be a focus of the agenda, specifically that Ottawa increase its share of spending from 22 to 35 per cent to help improve the system.

Premiers are first meeting with leaders of the National Indigenous Organizations, and a statement from the Songhees Nation, which is co-hosting the event, says discussions will concern the welfare of Indigenous families and youth, and the environment.

Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he'll be raising the alarm over the federal government's emissions reduction plan during the' meeting.

He says the reduction plan is "pie in the sky," calling it a "ridiculous" target with no proper plan for implementation.

Kenney, who made the comments at the Calgary Stampede's annual breakfast on Monday, said the implications of the plan would be devastating for Alberta just as the world needs more of its energy.

The federal plan released earlier this year is aimed at capping oil and gas sector emissions to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and reduce oil and gas methane emissions by at least 75 per cent by 2030.

-- With files from Colette Derworiz in Calgary

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2022.

IN DEPTH

Who is supporting, opposing new online harms bill?

Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sweeping online harms legislation is before Parliament, allowing key stakeholders, major platforms, and Canadians with direct personal experience with abuse to dig in and see what's being proposed, reaction is streaming in. CTVNews.ca has rounded up reaction, and here's how Bill C-63 is going over.

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

opinion

opinion Don Martin: ArriveCan debacle may be even worse than we know from auditor's report

It's been 22 years since a former auditor general blasted the Chretien government after it 'broke just about every rule in the book' in handing out private sector contracts in the sponsorship scandal. In his column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin says the book has been broken anew with everything that went on behind the scenes of the 'dreaded' ArriveCan app.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Local Spotlight

N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49

A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.

Record-setting pop tab collection for Ontario boy

It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.

Stay Connected