The federal government has tabled a new bill that includes a proposal to distribute $2 billion to the provinces and territories to help alleviate surgery backlogs caused by COVID-19.
The one-time top-up will be delivered on a per-capita basis.
Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos deliver
“Today’s announcement will help repair the damage caused to our health-care system by the pandemic. It is also setting us on the longer-term path towards ensuring that our health-care system can meet the structural and demographic challenges of the 21st century,” Duclos said.
“In order to do this, we will want to work collaboratively with our provincial and territorial partners and focus on the needs of patients and the achievements of concrete outcomes.”
Provincial governments have long called for a boost to the Canada Health Transfer (CHT).
Since 2017-18, the CHT formula is set to grow in line with a three-year moving average of nominal gross domestic product, with a baseline increase of at least three per cent per year.
The federal government’s contribution is currently approximately 22 per cent of health spending, but the provinces would like to see that grow to approximately 35 per cent.
In their last election campaign platform, the Liberals pledged to invest $6 billion to help eliminate waitlists made worse by the pandemic, in addition to $4 billion already committed.
Duclos declined to say when the remaining billions will be dished out.
“This immediate investment is going to help our health minister colleagues in various parts of Canada do what they want to do, and they sometimes need the resources, the financial resources, needed for that to happen,” he said.
Duclos added that Canadians are not interested in “sterile” fiscal and jurisdictional debates about health care.
“Patients waiting for surgeries and families hoping to gain access to family health services want results, they want care,” he said.
“Nothing is more unproductive in Canada than a numbers war between two levels of government.”
The health minister highlighted the government’s five priority areas in working with the provinces and territories, which includes improved access to primary health care, bolstering mental health services, and broadening the use of virtual care and digital health applications.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was quick to take credit for the one-time cash infusion announcement, citing his party’s influence within the new Liberal-NDP confidence agreement.
“Unlike the Liberals or the Conservatives, New Democrats know that we have to protect and build the strength of our public health-care system, not seek alternatives elsewhere. With this agreement, we used our power to deliver results for health-care workers and for people waiting for surgery,” Singh said in a press release.
The agreement prioritizes national dental and pharmacare programs – two items Duclos said are also being worked on “speedily.”
Meanwhile, the Conservatives accused the Liberals of waiting for surgical backlogs to become a crisis before making the funding announcement.
“Since the start of the pandemic, whether it was ensuring our health-care workers had proper PPE, securing vaccines, or securing our borders, the Liberal government has taken a slow-to-act approach and it is Canadians who have paid the price for these failures,” said MPs Michael Barrett and Luc Berthold.
The Canadian Medial Association said they were supportive of the news, but emphasized the need to bring relief to the health workforce to support better health outcomes for patients.
“Our message to governments at every level: rebuilding our battered health system and offering relief to an exhausted and burnt-out workforce should be a shared priority,” reads a press release.
