Federal Health Minister Tony Clement met with his provincial counterparts in Toronto on Friday to discuss medical procedure wait-times, though he says no hard decisions will be made just yet.
The federal government has pledged to create a guarantee for wait-times and says it will continue to work with the provinces on the issue. But Clement wouldn't say when the Canadians can expect the government to fulfill its promise.
"As you can tell this is not a negotiating session between the provinces, territories and the federal government," Clement said at a news conference.
"It's an opportunity to get some of the issues out there, to talk them through, to chew on them a little bit, and that will help us get to the next stage of our commitments."
The wait-times guarantee is supposed to allow patients to go to another jurisdiction, at the government's expense, if the treatment they need is not available close to home.
The issue was one of the Conservatives' top five priorities during the election campaign about a year ago.
It's the only one that hasn't been fulfilled by the government.
Ontario's Health Minister George Smitherman says he doesn't expect a quick fix.
"I just think that expectations are hard. We know people are waiting too long in lots of circumstances, but you can't pretend you're going to fix everything at the same time," Smitherman said.
Saskatchewan Health Minister Len Taylor says a lot of action has taken place on wait times but adds it's a complex system and the country's health ministers must keep talking.
The event was meant to update Canadians about the progress that's being made on wait times, Taylor said.
It also allowed health ministers and government officials from across the country, as well as health-care experts and critics, to discuss what was working and what wasn't.
With files from The Canadian Press
