While it is generally a shared jurisdiction in other federations, health care is a provincial jurisdiction in Canada. This does not mean that the Government of Canada does not have any responsibilities with regard to the health of Canadians. These are all activities by which the Government of Canada contributes to ensuring that Canadians are one of the healthiest populations in the world. Of course, our governments do not always agree on the division of roles in the health sector. The risk of friction in this area is considerable as the population is pressing them to act.
Health is an permanent priority for citizens.
In Canada as in other federations, they are not much interested in knowing who is responsible for what under the Constitution. They demand quality health services. All governments are aware of this and therefore want to play their role fully. Hospitalization insurance in the 1950s, medicare in the 1960s, the Canada Health Act in 1984, all of these major reforms extended throughout Canada thanks to the leadership of the federal government, initially caused a great deal of friction with a number of provincial governments. But Canadians clearly supported these reforms.