OTTAWA -- Canada's premiers are presenting a united front today on infrastructure and the health-care needs of seniors as the country heads toward a federal election later this year.
Ontario's Kathleen Wynne, who's advocated a multi-billion-dollar partnership between the feds and the provinces on infrastructure, is returning fire to federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver.
Oliver issued a statement earlier in the day expressing dismay that the premiers were looking for a big investment in infrastructure as plummeting oil prices threaten Ottawa's bottom line.
Wynne is calling Oliver's response unfortunate and short-sighted at the end of the Council of the Federation's winter meeting.
The meeting's host, P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz, says he and his counterparts made great progress on the so-called Canadian Energy Strategy.
That initiative involves all 13 premiers and is focused on climate change and clean energy.
Ghiz also says the premiers also agreed to work with local law enforcement agencies in their jurisdictions to ensure Canadians are safe from terrorism.
Eleven of the country's 13 premiers attended the Council of the Federation meeting, most of them Liberal.
Conservatives Jim Prentice of Alberta and Brad Wall of Saskatchewan skipped the get-together, although Wall dialed in.
But Ghiz says there was no partisanship at the meeting as the premiers discussed the most pressing issues confronting them today.
