Premier Grimes joins all Premiers in launch of
Public Awareness Campaign on Health Care Funding

Premier Roger Grimes joined with the Premiers of all 13 provinces and territories today to launch a national campaign to enhance Canadians� awareness about health care challenges.

The campaign consists of print and television ads, as well as a centralized Web site. It was unveiled at a news conference in Halifax this morning by Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm, chair of the Premiers� Council on Canadian Health Awareness.

"Our sole purpose for forming the Premiers� Council was to improve Canadians� access to health information and enhance their awareness of current challenges and solutions in health care," said Premier Grimes. "Launching this public information campaign today is our way of reaching out to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and indeed all Canadians, with the facts about their health system.

"Our key message is aimed at the federal government. The fact is that the federal government is not contributing its fair share to health care. All Premiers felt it was time that Canadians knew how the share of federal funding for health has seriously eroded over the last number of years.

"The federal government used to pay 50 per cent of health funding. Today its share is 14 per cent. Provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador have dramatically increased their provincial health budgets to keep pace with growing demands, while at the same time coping with these major reductions from the federal government. This is simply not acceptable. It�s time for the federal government to make an honourable commitment to the people of this country and restore funding to the health system."

Premier Grimes said his province cannot afford to continue with unprecedented increases in the provincial health budget. With the province�s population aging, the cost of drugs increasing, and the demand for new technology and for home care increasing, the Premier feels the federal government has no choice but to give the health system a major injection of dollars.

For more information on the campaign, please visit the council�s Web site at www.premiersforhealth.ca.

Media contact: Carl Cooper, Premier Grimes� Office, (709) 729-3564

The Premiers� Council on Canadian Health Awareness was created in January 2002 to improve Canadians� access to health information and enhance their awareness of current challenges and solutions in health care.

The council is comprised of the Premiers of the 13 provinces and territories. Its mandate is to gather and disseminate information to Canadians on issues such as health care funding, health services innovation and best practices, human resource planning and management, and drug effectiveness and assessment.

The Premiers are committed to public accountability in health care, and this new council is accountable to all citizens.

The Premiers� Council is also committed to communicating with Canadians to ensure they have the information they need to be engaged in this critical issue.

The Premiers� Council has developed a centralized Web site at www.premiersforhealth.ca to improve Canadians� access to information and to enhance their awareness of health care issues.

This Web site will include information from all provinces and territories on the initiatives they are taking to ensure the health care needs of citizens are met, now and in the future.

The council is supported by a small secretariat consisting of an executive director and two other staffers, based in Ottawa, to plan, coordinate and implement the council�s work.

On September 27, the council launched a national awareness campaign to help Canadians understand the facts about the growing pressures in health care and the need for increased federal government funding.

Canadians rank health care at the top of the list of priorities they expect their leaders to address. All Premiers are working together and doing their share to ensure the sustainability of health care. They are asking the federal government to step up and do its fair share.

The Premiers believe a partnership between the federal and provincial/territorial governments is essential so that the responsibility for funding can be shared more equitably and improvements can be made to enhance the quality of care for all Canadians.

For further information on the council, please contact:

Loretta O�Connor
Premiers� Council on Canadian Health Awareness
(613) 563-4066, (613) 863-8448 (cell)

2002 09 27                                    11:00 a.m.