Yukon Premier Sandy Silver on Dec. 7, in Ottawa.Dave Chan/The Globe and Mail
Yukon’s departing Premier says the best bet for premiers and territorial leaders to engineer a meeting with the Prime Minister on health care may be to pitch a meeting where health care funding isn’t explicitly on the agenda.
Sandy Silver raised the idea this week during a visit to Ottawa, when he was asked for any parting advice to other leaders who want Ottawa to increase its contributions to health care.
He said there are many issues to discuss beyond the Canada Health Transfer – the money the federal government sends to the provinces and territories – including medical certification across the country and even interprovincial trade.
“There’s always a conversation to be had. Maybe CHT is not on the actual, official agenda, but if we’re in that room as nationalists, we’re in that room as Canadians, I think that really does help,” he said.
Mr. Silver was interviewed by The Globe and Mail on Wednesday. On Friday, the premiers held a virtual news conference in which they called for a first ministers’ meeting on health care in early 2023.
“All premiers are ready, willing and able to sit down for serious discussions as soon as possible to pursue the true partnership that all Canadians urgently deserve,” said Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson, the chair of the Council of the Federation.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said it’s time for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to call a meeting. “Nothing should be more important to the Prime Minister than meeting with the 13 premiers. That’s the bottom line.”
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If the premiers get their moment, Mr. Silver said, they need to be ready to make a compelling case for change. “I think the most important thing that we can do is not just show up hat in hand and say we just need more money. We need to explain why the flexibility is important.”
“Getting back into the room, for me, is the most important thing, getting back to that national conversation, and I believe we are talking again at that first ministers’ meeting, [we would be] getting back to low-hanging fruit.”
After six years as premier, Mr. Silver is leaving Yukon politics, the latest premier to do so, after Alberta’s Jason Kenney and British Columbia’s John Horgan.
The former teacher, born and raised in Antigonish, N.S., will not seek re-election when territorial residents go to the polls in 2025. Yukon Liberals will choose a new leader on Jan. 28.
Mr. Silver, now 53, came to Whitehorse to teach in 1996. “The first day that I got up there, I started teaching and I have been working ever since.”
He was first elected to the legislature in 2011 and said he decided to leave politics to make space for a newcomer. He said he had no specific plans for the future.
In November, provincial and territorial health ministers met with their federal counterpart in Vancouver, but the gathering failed to produce an agreement. Ottawa committed to an unspecified funding increase, but the regional governments were seeking an additional $28-billion a year. Ottawa demanded a commitment to a national health care data system, which it argued is a much-needed accountability measure.
Mr. Silver said he expects that, with the pandemic easing, there is a chance for a deal. “People are taking a breath, and now it’s time, it really is time as a nation to come together and then to solve some of these issues.”
He also urged the premiers and territorial leaders to make a stronger case for more money.
Mr. Silver was in Ottawa this week for Yukon Days, an annual series of meetings launched during his time as premier in which he, Yukon ministers and the territory’s First Nations chiefs discuss territorial priorities with federal ministers. On Friday morning, Mr. Silver was scheduled to meet with Mr. Trudeau.
Earlier this week, he appeared before the Standing Senate Committee on National Security, Defence and Veterans Affairs to deliver a presentation warning that the Bering Strait could become the site of incursions from Russia or China into the North American Arctic.
He said support for robust and secure energy, transportation and telecommunications infrastructure will increase Yukon’s – and Canada’s – resiliency to threats. “We believe that healthy, resilient communities are the foundation of a secure and sovereign North,” he said.