2011 Western Premiers’ Conference

Premiers work to support healthy families and safer communities 

YELLOWKNIFE (June 22, 2011) - Western Premiers committed today to share expertise and pursue opportunities to work together in a preventative, integrated approach to supporting healthy families and ensuring safe communities.

Safer Communities

Premiers welcomed recent positive efforts by the federal government to address issues of public safety, including the elimination of two-for-one credits for time served in pre-trial detention.

Premiers noted the importance of providing law enforcement and courts with the proper tools to adequately address serious violent crimes, deal with emerging trends in organized crime, and to ensure criminal records properly reflect the severity of violent offences committed. In their discussions, Premiers:

   
• encouraged the federal government to work with provinces and territories to examine all approaches that would help make communities safer from home invasions, carjackings, pre-meditated crimes (such as armed robberies involving knives), and abuse and victimization of the elderly;

   
• directed Western Justice Ministers to examine issues related to the possession of body armour and unlawfully fortified buildings and vehicles. Existing provincial and territorial legislation has been effective in addressing these issues but could benefit from the coordination of approaches across jurisdictions;

   
• encouraged the federal government to engage provinces and territories in efforts to reform the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) to meet shared federal, provincial and territorial objectives, including amending the YCJA to deal more effectively with serious and repeat young offenders;

   
• called on the federal government to address First Nations and Inuit policing needs by ensuring adequate funding for First Nations Policing; and,

   
• expressed concern regarding possible federal funding reductions to the National Police Service (NPS) and called for the federal government to fully engage provinces and territories in the upcoming review of the NPS to ensure continued and appropriate levels of funding and services.

The NPS includes a range of services that are critical in maintaining a well-functioning criminal justice system, including forensic laboratories, criminal history records, fingerprint identification, toxicology services, and the sex offender registry. For example, as currently funded, the NPS is at least 18 months behind in data entry. It takes crime labs up to one year to process crime scene samples. It needs to be adequately funded to handle the volume of data and to take advantage of scientific and technological advances.

Premiers agreed that violence against Aboriginal women and girls needs the continued attention of all jurisdictions and agreed to coordinate efforts in addressing the issue of violence against Aboriginal women and girls, as crime knows no borders. Addressing this issue goes beyond coordination of law enforcement and involves cross government and cross jurisdiction cooperation. As part of this initiative, Premiers directed their Justice Ministers to consider the root causes of violence against Aboriginal women and girls and report back on progress by December 2011.

Premiers also urged the federal government to proceed with a funding commitment to establish a national police support centre for missing person including resources related to Aboriginal policing services, specifically dedicated to the issue of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls.

Healthy Families

Premiers are committed to improving the health of families and to supporting government-wide measures that ensure the long-term sustainability and quality of health care systems.

Premiers stressed a shift to a more proactive approach to health by all government departments, the private sector, communities, and individuals. Leading healthier lifestyles can prevent the onset of many chronic diseases, improve health outcomes and quality of life, and allow government to invest more money in other services. For example, the cost of obesity in Canada is estimated at $4.3 billion annually. In addition, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) is a one hundred per cent preventable disorder which results in significant economic and social cost to our health care, social services, education and justice systems along with our families and communities.

Governments are committed to this approach through support services, interventions, and educating Canadians make healthy lifestyle choices as a long-term investment in provincial/territorial health care systems.

Western Premiers are focused on improving the health of families through healthy lifestyles, healthy eating, healthy starts and healthy communities.

Western Premiers welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment to continuing the 6% escalator on the Canada Health Transfer, and look forward to a discussion with the Prime Minister on the negotiation of all major transfer agreements set to expire in 2014.  Maintaining ongoing, adequate and predictable federal transfers is critical in providing a range of federally-supported services, such as health care, social services, and post-secondary education.

Territorial Premiers also look forward to an early discussion with the Prime Minister on an extension of Territorial Health System Sustainability Initiative, which expires March 31, 2012

Pharmaceutical Procurement

Western Premiers encouraged continued efforts, both regionally and nationally, in the area of joint pricing and procurement, and support ongoing efforts to realize cost savings associated with cooperating where possible, particularly in the area of health care. By pursuing measures to take advantage of economies of scale and shared expertise, Western Provinces have the potential for significant savings on items such as operating room supplies (estimated savings: $14.8 million over 5 years in one jurisdiction), or cardiac Stents for Angioplasty (estimated savings: $21 million over three years).

For example, BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have taken steps to maximize value through common group buying organizations. Partnerships include a Western Supply Chain Management Initiative that includes the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority; and BC’s Provincial Health Services Authority and Alberta Health Services.

2012 Western Premiers’ Conference

Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, attending his last Western Premiers’ Conference, extended an invitation to the Premiers to their next conference to be held in Alberta in Spring 2012.

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