October 20, 2025 – On October 17, Canada’s Federal, Provincial, and Territorial (FPT) Ministers of Health met in Calgary to discuss mutual challenges and opportunities for collaboration in Canada’s health care system. This marked Minister of Health Marjorie Michel’s first time hosting an FPT meeting since the most recent election.
Representatives from Newfoundland and Labrador, Nunavut, and Yukon were not present at the meeting due to each jurisdiction being in caretaker mode for elections.
A full version of the communique can be found here.
Santis Insights
- Cross-Government Agreement to Address Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Concerns: Ministers discussed Canada-U.S. relations and agreed to focus on developing Canada’s pharmaceutical supply chains to protect them from economic threats. However, the intended design and parameters of these strategies remain unclear, indicating that it’s an important area to watch for engagement opportunities.
- Digital Health Solutions Still a Priority: Commitments to enhancing digital tools and improving connectivity within the health system still seemingly align with the goals of the previous government. Given that the ministers didn’t discuss specifics on how to collectively achieve these goals, it will be important to monitor any funding avenues created to aid professionals in modernizing their practices in the upcoming budget.
- Health Workforce Strategies Limited in Scope: Discussions on addressing the ongoing health workforce crisis centred on accelerating credential recognition and enhancing labour mobility, two areas where the federal government can use their convening power and jurisdiction in appropriate ways. Notably, there were no updates regarding recommendations from the Canadian Health Workforce Education, Training and Distribution Study discussed at the FPT Ministers’ Meeting in January.
Reaffirmed Commitment to Cross-Jurisdiction Collaboration
While Provinces and Territories (PTs) maintained their role in stewarding provincial health systems, they reaffirmed their commitment to cross-jurisdiction collaboration to address commonly experienced, pressing health matters. Specifically, they maintained the importance of programs like Working Together and other bilateral health agreements. With PTs concerned about the lack of commitment on current bilateral agreements made by the previous government, ministers agreed to establish a time-limited senior-level working group on the review and renewal of the agreements.
The Impact of US Trade Policy on Pharmaceutical Supply
The group discussed Canada-U.S. health relations, with a particular focus on the possible impacts of tariffs on Canada’s pharmaceutical supply chain for. The group acknowledged the need for strategies to protect Canada’s pharmaceutical supply chains from external global economic threats.
Further details on whether there were discussions specifically around the design and parameters of these strategies were not immediately available following the meeting, however.
The Role of Digital Health Solutions
The ministers highlighted the need to enhance digital tools to increase connectivity and provide better and more direct support for patients, regardless of their geographic location. Specifically, there was consensus that prescriptions should be digitally shareable with patient consent to modernize health systems.
These areas of concern are directly related to Liberal platform commitments to reintroduce interoperability legislation and invest in programs to help health professionals access better tools to support e-referral and e-prescribing, further raising interest in whether any follow through will appear in the upcoming budget.
Working Across Federal Agencies to Boost the Health Workforce
The ministers discussed the need for collaboration with other federal bodies, particularly immigration, to improve pathways for international health workers to move to Canada. The FPT Ministers stated that they needed to accelerate foreign credential recognition and work with Canadian regulators to enhance labour mobility.
Commissioner of Canada’s Fight Against Fentanyl Provides Update
The Commissioner of Canada’s Fight Against Fentanyl attended the meeting to provide all FPT Ministers with an update on ongoing measures to stem opioid and fentanyl distribution and use. This has been a particularly contentious issue as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariff threats against Canada.
Further Discussions in 2025
Minister Michel committed to meeting with ministers after the federal government announces its budget on November 4, 2025. In addition, the minister committed to continuing discussions by December 31, 2025 on PT concerns with the interpretation of the Canada Health Act Services Policy, set to come into effect on April 1, 2026. PT Ministers feel there is still a lack of consensus between them and the federal government as to how the policy is interpreted by the governments responsible for delivering health care in their respective jurisdictions.