Canada含羞草研究社檚 premiers on Tuesday lamented what they said was the federal government含羞草研究社檚 lack of teamwork on important files from housing to school lunch programs, with British Columbia含羞草研究社檚 premier saying working with Ottawa can feel like 含羞草研究社渂eating our head against a wall.含羞草研究社�

Premiers of the ten provinces and three territories are in Halifax for three days this week for the summer meeting of the Council of the Federation, hosted by Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston.

On Tuesday, B.C. Premier David Eby told reporters that for years at these federation get-togethers, he and his counterparts have asked for a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

含羞草研究社淭hat call continues to go unanswered and I cannot understand why, because we have a lot of work to do together,含羞草研究社� Eby said.

Houston echoed similar sentiments in a letter sent to Trudeau ahead of the conference, asking the prime minister to 含羞草研究社渨ork with us in a true partnership含羞草研究社� in order to revive the 含羞草研究社渃ollaborative spirit of the federation.含羞草研究社�

The premier told reporters Tuesday that provinces and territories are closely attuned to their residents含羞草研究社� needs, and they want to work more closely with Ottawa in order to tackle major issues.

含羞草研究社淎s provinces and territories, we have some things that are in our wheelhouse, that are our jurisdiction. We know a lot about them, we know what we need. And we have ideas about how to approach them,含羞草研究社� he said.

含羞草研究社淪o what we含羞草研究社檝e asked for from Ottawa is to partner with us on those things and work with us, and not try to go around us 含羞草研究社� as may be the case sometimes, as we see on some of the housing stuff that含羞草研究社檚 happening now.含羞草研究社�

One federal program that gets heat from provinces is Ottawa含羞草研究社檚 Housing Accelerator Fund, which distributes money for housing directly to cities and municipalities, bypassing provincial governments.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who has been highly critical of the accelerator fund, said Tuesday that a lack of collaboration has resulted in the duplication of other programs like dental care, pharmacare and the school lunch program.

Doubling up on these services means 含羞草研究社測ou含羞草研究社檙e paying for twice as many civil servants to deliver the program, which means you含羞草研究社檙e not getting the dollars down to the people who need them,含羞草研究社� she said.

含羞草研究社淲hat we含羞草研究社檝e advocated is 含羞草研究社� work with us. If you want to get involved in assisting us in cost-sharing, then use our architecture and provide funding so that we can expand the programs.含羞草研究社�

Doug Ford, premier of Ontario, acknowledged that there含羞草研究社檚 a general sense of exasperation among his peers when it comes to working with Ottawa. 含羞草研究社淎ll the premiers together, I think that we含羞草研究社檙e pretty frustrated in that area, but we want to work with the federal government,含羞草研究社� Ford told reporters Tuesday.

Eby said he thinks progress could be made if the prime minister were to meet with premiers and make a plan for working together.

含羞草研究社淚t含羞草研究社檚 not about money. It含羞草研究社檚 not about additional funding, it含羞草研究社檚 about, can we co-ordinate nationally on these areas of shared interest?

含羞草研究社淎nd that is where it sometimes feels like we含羞草研究社檙e just beating our head against a wall,含羞草研究社� Eby said.

The Office of the Prime Minister was not immediately available for comment.

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