Mr. Speaker, the public health goals were developed through close collaboration with the provinces and territories and broad consultation with stakeholders. The goals agreed upon by the first ministers in October 2005 articulate broad directional goals.
Ministers of Health committed to using the goals to inform and guide the development of their respective initiatives but have retained jurisdictional independence in setting of targets and indicators. While indicators and targets have not been set through the public health foals process, federal, provincial and territorial partners have continued to work together since 2005 to improve the health status of Canadians and have undertaken specific initiatives to begin to identify selected indicators and targets in specific areas. For example, in 2008, federal-provincial-territorial ministers responsible for sport, physical activity and recreation set targets for physical activity.
More broadly, through the pan-Canadian public health network, PHN, federal-provincial-territorial governments are undertaking collaborative efforts with stakeholders across the country to identify and develop common health indicators, and share best practices and information. Two of the PHN expert groups have identified this as a priority over the coming year.
Federal-provincial-territorial governments have also worked together to address the health needs of Canadians through the development of patient wait times guarantees, PWTGs, across the country, with all provinces and territories agreeing to establish a PWTG in a priority area by 2010. Guarantees will move the health care system further toward more responsive patient centred care, providing patients with greater certainty of timely access. More than $1 billion in federal funding is being provided to provinces and territories and Canada Health Infoway to support the development and establishment of PWTGs.
