CALGARY — After years of bickering with Ottawa over health care spending, Canada's premiers are shifting their focus to creating a better-educated workforce.

Developing a national plan on post-secondary education and training will top the agenda when the country's provincial and territorial leaders gather this week in the Rocky Mountains for their annual meeting.

"All the premiers agree that one of the key components of building a strong and growing economy is to invest in your human capital, to develop the potential of your people," said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.

The premiers arrive in Calgary on Tuesday and meet with aboriginal leaders before travelling to Banff by train Wednesday.

"There's going to be a real interest in seeing how we can get the federal government to become a real partner when it comes to better supporting post-secondary education in Canada," McGuinty said.

That attention is long overdue, says Roger Gibbins of the Canada West Foundation.

"We've had a very extended debate on health-care reform and I think that debate has about run its course," said Gibbins. "Now we have to look at the long-term sustainability of the Canadian labour force and that means training and education."

The shortage of skilled workers is acute in booming Alberta, says Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Ed Stelmach.

"You can pick any trade, any profession: we're having difficulty filling those spaces with people," Stelmach said.

"It's hitting us on every level, even in small rural communities. I've talked to small agriculture machinery dealers who say they can't sell any more harvesting equipment because they don't have people to put them together in time for harvest."

The strength of Alberta's oil and gas sector has allowed it to steal workers from other industries and provinces, a short-sighted strategy that's now created a looming crisis. Stelmach says skill shortages are hurting Alberta's economy and he believes the impact will be felt elsewhere.

"We just won't be able to grow at the same rate if you don't have the people to build the plants, to provide the goods and services," he said. "We'd like to come forward with a common strategy amongst all the provinces so we can get an agreement with the federal government and get different options."

Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert says training young workers is becoming increasingly important as the baby boomers start to leave the workforce.

And New Brunswick's Bernard Lord suggests the issue deserves a first ministers meeting with Prime Minister Paul Martin.

"We need to remain competitive in Canada, which means we need to be more productive, more innovative, better educated and we need to have skills," Lord said.

There will also be discussion of the so-called "fiscal imbalance," where Ottawa takes in more tax dollars than it needs while the provinces struggle to cover the costs of essential services.

"Until we crack that nut in a meaningful way, I think it's going to dominate most of the conversation at the Council of the Federation meetings and any conversations we have with our federal counterparts," said McGuinty, who also wants to address the increase of American guns on Canadian streets.

Improving Canada-U.S. trade relations, especially in the wake of the BSE crisis, will be discussed. The premiers will also meet with David Wilkins, the new American ambassador to Canada.

Manitoba Premier Gary Doer wants the premiers to extend daylight saving time into November - a move that would keep clocks in sync with the United States. Doer says keeping time with Canada's largest trading partner would simply be logical.

Saskatchewan's Calvert will be seeking support for tougher penalties for those involved with producing crystal methamphetamine, the highly addictive drug blamed for destroying dozens of young lives in the prairie province.

Calvert notes that Saskatchewan has closed a couple of home-based crystal meth labs, while North Dakota has shut down several hundred.

"It's that close and it's moving fast," he said. "If we have the luxury of getting ahead of this, we should take that opportunity."

And the premier of Canada's tiniest province wants a new equalization formula, noting that the meeting should look for ways to strengthen federalism.

Pat Binns of Prince Edward Island said it's important to "find more ways that the provinces can work together within the federation as opposed to being competitors by region."