Health care is the main topic as Western Canada’s provincial and territorial leaders meet in person for the first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe is hosting the gathering and will be joined by his counterparts from British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Nunavut, Yukon and the Northwest Territories.

Earlier this year, Canada’s premiers asked Ottawa for a $28-billion increase in health transfers, which would bring the federal funding share to 35 per cent from 22 per cent.

Premier Scott said that the ask means that provinces will be able to ensure that existing services are sustainable into the future.

“Services like reducing our surgical wait times, expanding our diagnostics, expanding and sustaining our health care access,” he explained. “Our access to medical health professionals. It also provides us with the opportunity to have a fulsome discussion about areas of healthcare where we can expand.”

British Columbia Premier John Horgan said that the Canada Health Transfer is about how provinces can deliver health services to Canadians from coast to coast to coast.

“Throughout the pandemic, we continue to raise the Canada Health Transfer is a critical part of our ability to meet the expectations of our citizens. The Primer Minister repeatedly said that the pandemic would be the best time to have those conversations when we get passed. We are here; the pandemic is waning; it’s becoming endemic. It’s time now to have that conversation.”

After the pandemic put a strain on the healthcare system and its workers, he said that it’s to invest in the system.

“Now is the time for us to back to the system and say, we are going to rejuvenate it. We are going to bring forward new initiatives on human resource development so we can have more care providers for the challenges of an aging population. Now is the time for a new vision for healthcare in Canada.

He added that now is the time for us to come together despite our differences and deliver what Canadians expect of us.