Released on December 9, 1997
Premier Roy Romanow said today he was "cautiously optimistic" thatFirst Ministers will have progress to show after their meeting in
Ottawa this week.
"This meeting is being held at the request of the Premiers who met in
Calgary in September," Romanow said. "Our basic goal is to show that
Canada works, and can work better, for individual Canadians. That is
the best possible way to build the unity of this country. It's at
least 80 per cent of the job. I am cautiously optimistic we'll make
progress this week."
Romanow said he is looking for progress on three specific issues:
child poverty, youth unemployment and preserving and strengthening
Canada's national Medicare system.
Romanow said he is also hoping for basic agreement on how governments
will work co-operatively together in the future.
On child poverty: "Our first task is complete the job of implementing
the National Child Benefit and its companion provincial/territorial
programs. This will be the first new national social program in 30
years. Then we have to build on this progress. The next step is a
National Children's Agenda -- working together on active programs
like child care, nutrition, safety, education and recreation to
improve all aspects of the lives of Canada's children."
On youth unemployment: "Our goal is to put this subject on the
national agenda, as we did with child poverty two years ago. We
want to get the federal, provincial and territorial governments
focused on it. And to map out how we can complement each other's
work."
On preserving and strengthening national Medicare: "The goal of
the Government of Saskatchewan is to make sure there still is a
quality national Medicare system twenty years from now. The
greatest threat to that goal is the dramatic reduction in federal
funding for Medicare, which undermines Ottawa's ability to
enforce its own standards. We need to do something about it. I
intend to make several proposals on this issue in Ottawa.
"First, since federal cuts to health care made such a large
contribution to balancing the federal budget, I believe health
should the major recipient of the new federal fiscal dividend.
Such funding should fit with provincial reforms in the provinces,
as long as they are consistent with the principles of Medicare.
"Second, because Ottawa has eroded its own ability to enforce
standards, we need a new and stronger approach to guaranteeing
the basic principles of Medicare. That's why premiers are
raising the issue of joint interpretation of national standards.
If we can find a better approach, it will protect Medicare from
arbitrary actions in the future by any level of government --
federal, provincial or territorial.
"Third, especially if we can make progress on these first two
points, I will be very interested in working with the Prime
Minister on federal proposals for a new, positive federal role in
areas like homecare."
"These are examples of how all levels of government can work
together to make Canada work better for Canadians," Romanow said.
"It's time to make it a habit. That was one of our key messages
in Calgary.
"We therefore need some new, basic understandings about how we're
going to keep building Canada's social union. I want to come out
of this meeting with a stronger commitment, by all governments,
to a new co-operative federalism. That's why Premiers are
raising the issue of a new framework for the social union a
discussion that is going to take us into some important issues,
like the federal spending power.
"We also need agreement on regular meetings of First Ministers to
review progress on our joint work. Child poverty, youth
unemployment and a stronger national Medicare system are very
good places to start."
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