Dear CARP Member,
In 10 days, Canada’s Premiers will gather in Charlottetown for the annual Council of the Federation meeting. They’ll discuss many of the challenges facing our country—affordability, trade, infrastructure, public safety and economic growth.
CARP believes there is one issue that must be front and centre: Canada’s healthcare crisis and the realities of an aging population.
I’ve now been President of CARP for just over a year, and this will be my first visit to Prince Edward Island in that role. It is also a rare opportunity to meet with Premiers from across Canada in one place and bring forward the concerns we hear every day from older Canadians, their families and caregivers.
Across the country, the warning signs are unmistakable. Emergency departments are overcrowded. Hallway medicine has become a familiar phrase. Millions of Canadians still don’t have access to primary care. Home care and long-term care remain under enormous pressure, while shortages of nurses, physicians and other health professionals continue to strain the system.
None of this should come as a surprise.
Statistics Canada, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), provincial governments, auditors, health quality councils and countless experts have been warning about these challenges for years. The reports have been written. The evidence is clear. What is needed now is leadership—and a commitment by governments to work together.
That is why I have written to Premier Rob Lantz, as host and Chair of the Council of the Federation, asking him to place health care and population aging on the Premiers’ agenda.
I have also requested meetings with Premiers from across Canada while I am in Charlottetown. My hope is that they will leave Prince Edward Island with a shared commitment to work together—and to speak with one voice to the federal government—on one of the most important public policy challenges facing our country.
How you can help
If you believe health care should be a priority for Canada’s Premiers, I hope you’ll lend your voice.
Please consider writing to Premier Rob Lantz to ask him to:
- Make health care and population aging a meaningful agenda item during the Council of the Federation.
- Take a few minutes to meet with CARP while we are in Charlottetown representing older Canadians from across the country.
A short, respectful message from a CARP member can make a real difference.
As always, I’ll keep you updated throughout the meetings and let you know what we hear from Premiers across Canada. Please nudge your own Premier to give me 15 minutes of their time in PEI.
Thank you for helping CARP ensure that the voices of older Canadians are heard.
The letter sent to Premier Lantz appears below.
email: premier@gov.pe.ca
July 2, 2026
The Honourable Rob Lantz
Premier of Prince Edward Island
Chair, Council of the Federation
Re: Health care, population aging and the 2026 Summer Meeting of Canada’s Premiers
Dear Premier Lantz,
On behalf of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons — CARP — I am writing to respectfully urge you, as Premier of Prince Edward Island and Chair of the Council of the Federation, to make health care, population aging and federal-provincial-territorial cooperation a central agenda item at the Summer Meeting of Canada’s Premiers in Charlottetown on July 21–23, 2026.
The Premiers will rightly have many urgent issues before them: affordability, trade, productivity, infrastructure, public safety and the fiscal pressures facing every government. Health care and population aging belong among those defining issues because they touch all of the others. A health system under constant strain weakens families, employers, communities and provincial budgets alike.
Charlottetown is an appropriate place for this discussion. Prince Edward Island has helped move Canada toward national reform before, including in the effort to strengthen the Canada Pension Plan. That reform required provinces and the federal government to work together in the long-term interests of Canadians. Health care now demands the same seriousness of purpose.
The evidence is already on the table. Emergency departments are crowded; hallway medicine has returned as a familiar phrase; too many Canadians lack primary care; shortages persist across the health workforce; delayed hospital discharges continue; home and community care remains insufficient; and family caregivers are carrying more than any system should reasonably expect of them.
Statistics Canada reports that more than 8.1 million Canadians are now aged 65 and older. CIHI continues to document mounting pressures across the system, including growing demand, longer emergency department stays, health workforce shortages, delayed hospital discharge and uneven access to primary care. Provincial governments, auditors, seniors advocates, health quality councils and expert panels have reached similar conclusions across the country.
COVID-19 exposed the fragility of Canadian health care. The demographic challenge now before us is different. COVID-19 was an acute emergency. Population aging is predictable, permanent and compounding. It will press every day on hospitals, emergency departments, primary care, long-term care, home care, caregivers and the health workforce.
Prince Edward Island’s own Seniors Action Plan recognizes that the province’s senior population is growing faster than the general population and now represents nearly 21 per cent of residents. PEI therefore understands population aging not as an abstract national trend, but as a practical governing reality already shaping health care access, public services, community life and provincial finances.
There is only one taxpayer. That taxpayer expects elected officials to work together.
The first step is to put health care and population aging clearly on the agenda and to allow Premiers to speak frankly about the pressures they are facing. Every province and territory is dealing with the issue in its own way, but the pattern is national: longer waits, workforce shortages, pressure on hospitals, inadequate home and community care, long-term care bottlenecks and families carrying more of the burden.
Charlottetown should be used to build a common position among Premiers and to bring that position to the federal government with a united voice. Canadians need to see their leaders moving together on a problem that is already affecting families in every part of the country. The goal should be practical cooperation, clear priorities and a shared commitment to meet the known demands of an aging population.
CARP would welcome the opportunity to meet with you or your officials before or during the Charlottetown meeting. Our association is prepared to be fully supportive where we can. We will continue to encourage our members, older Canadians, caregivers, families and voters to insist that elected officials meet the known and growing needs of their constituents.
Population aging should be understood for what it is: evidence of Canada’s success. Canadians are living longer because of progress in public health, medicine, education, safety and social policy. The responsibility of governments is to ensure that the systems built for an earlier demographic reality are prepared for the country we have become.
Older Canadians are not outside the life of the country. They remain caregivers, volunteers, workers, taxpayers, community leaders, grandparents and neighbours. They support families, strengthen communities and contribute to the social and economic life of Canada every day. A health system prepared for an aging population is therefore not a narrow seniors’ issue. It is essential infrastructure for families, communities and future generations.
Premier Lantz, PEI has shown before that a smaller province can play a national leadership role when the issue is important enough. Health care and population aging now require that same spirit of cooperation.
We respectfully urge you to make health care and population aging a central item on the agenda in Charlottetown, to ensure that the voices of Premiers across the country are heard, and to help bring a united provincial and territorial position to the federal government.
Respectfully,
Anthony Quinn
President
CARP
Canadian Association of Retired Persons
