Members of the P.E.I. Health Coalition, P.E.I. Federation of Labour, Canadian Health Coalition, and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions demonstrate outside the health ministers' meeting in Charlottetown on Thursday, Oct.12, 2023. They are calling for universal pharmacare and to stop legislative moves that would allow the privatization of health care. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Brady McCloskey mandatory credit
CHARLOTTETOWN – Federal Health Minister Mark Holland and his provincial and territorial counterparts are wrapping up two days of meetings in Prince Edward Island today.
Earlier this week, Holland said a focus of these meetings would be how provinces and territories are going to expand their health workforces and retain those already there amid what many advocates have called a crisis in health care.
Members of the Canadian Health Coalition, P.E.I. Health Coalition, the P.E.I. Federation of Labour and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions demonstrated this morning in downtown Charlottetown, calling for urgent universal pharmacare and an end to the privatization of health services.
The federal government has promised to table pharmacare legislation this fall.
Tracy Glynn, national director of operations with the Canadian Health Coalition, says there are major concerns about provincial governments opening the door to private health services, as New Brunswick has done by altering legislation to allow for private cataract surgery clinics to operate.
The health ministers are scheduled to hold a news conference this afternoon to conclude their two days of meetings.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 12, 2023.
– With files from Laura Osman in Ottawa.
