Question Period Note: Recalls of Health and Consumer Products

Many Canadians face challenges in accessing health care and mental health and substance use services. Budget 2023 outlined the federal government’s plan, “Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians” to provide close to $200 billion in additional funding over ten years to provinces and territories.

• The Government has now signed bilateral agreements with all provinces and territories to begin delivering the $25 billion in new funding available through the ten-year “Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians” health care plan.
• This funding builds upon a $2.4 billion federal investment over four years in mental health and addiction services.
• It will help accelerate health system improvements in four shared priorities:
• access to family health services;
• supporting health workers and reducing backlogs;
• access to mental health and substance use services; and
• modernizing health systems.
• The Government has also announced agreements with 9 provinces and territories to help Canadians age with dignity close to home with federal funding of $2.4 billion for home and community care over four years, and $3 billion for long-term care over five years.
IF PRESSED ON AGING WITH DIGNITY AGREEMENTS

• To date [May 3, 2024], Aging with Dignity agreements have been announced with nine provinces and territories (British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Quebec, Saskatchewan, and Yukon).
• These agreements are supported by federal investments that include:
o $2.4 billion over four years to improve access to home and community care from Budget 2017; and
o $3 billion over five years from Budget 2021 to apply standards of care in long-term care facilities and help support workforce stability.
IF PRESSED ON RESULTS

• As part of the Working Together plan, there is a federal, provincial and territorial commitment to improve the collection, use and sharing of health information and to inform Canadians of progress.
• The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is leading a process, in collaboration with provinces and territories, to refine and expand upon common indicators on shared health priorities.
Through the bilateral agreements, provinces and territories are outlining how federal funding will support improvements, including establishing targets, timelines and commitments for annual reporting on progress to their residents.
IF PRESSED ON SUPPORT FOR QUEBEC

• Through the investments announced as part of the plan, Quebec will receive $38.5 billion in federal funding over 10 years, including:
o Approximately $6.7 billion for bilateral agreements: focused on the four shared health care priorities, and home and community care, and long-term care; and
o $31.8 billion through the Canada Health Transfer (CHT), including $447 million through the one-time CHT top-up, which has already been transferred.
• Through tailored bilateral agreements, the government is working with provinces and territories to deliver real results and promote greater transparency to people in Canada, including Quebec residents.
IF PRESSED ON THE TERRITORIAL HEALTH INVESTMENT FUND
• The Territorial Health Investment Fund has supported the territories in delivering health care in the North, where each faces high costs to provide necessary care for their residents.
• Territories have used funding delivered through the Territorial Health Investment Fund to develop and implement key health system improvements in areas like collaborative care, primary care, and health human resources.
• Budget 2023 announced $350 million over ten years to renew the Territorial Health Investment Fund, beginning in 2023-24. The government has now signed five-year agreements with all three territories to deliver this funding.
• This renewal will provide stable and predictable funding for territories to support necessary costs they incur, including medical travel, and projects that can address the innovative delivery of health care in a northern and remote context.
• The Territorial Health Investment Fund will supplement other Government of Canada funding to territories, including the health funding package announced on February 7, 2023.

Budget 2023 outlined the federal government’s plan to provide close to $200 billion (2023 Fall Economic Statement estimate is now over $200 billion) over ten years in health transfers to provinces and territories, including $46 billion in new funding through new Canada Health Transfer measures (one-time Top-Up and Five Percent Guarantee over 5 years), tailored bilateral agreements to meet the needs of each province and territory, funding for personal support workers, and an increase to the Territorial Health Investment Fund. In addition, Budget 2023 announced $2 billion over 10 years to address Indigenous health priorities and $505 million over five years, starting in 2023-24, to the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Canada Health Infoway, and other federal data partners.

GDP-Driven Growth: As the Canada Health Transfer’s escalator is based on GDP growth, an additional $146.3 billion is projected to be provided over the next ten years through the Canada Health Transfer, over and above the $45.2 billion provided in 2022-23.

Canada Health Transfer Top-Up: The $2 billion CHT top-up to address urgent pressures in emergency rooms, operating rooms, and pediatric hospitals was transferred to provinces and territories in June 2023. It builds on $6.5 billion in top-ups provided throughout the pandemic.

Canada Health Transfer Five Percent Guarantee: The federal government will provide top-up payments to achieve Canada Health Transfer increases of at least five percent per year for the next five years. The last top-up payment will be rolled into the Canada Health Transfer base at the end of the five-year period, resulting in a permanent funding increase. This represents an estimated $17.5 billion over ten years in additional funding through the Canada Health Transfer.

Tailored Bilateral Agreements: The federal government will provide $25 billion over ten years through a new set of bilateral agreements to address individual provincial and territorial health system needs, such as expanding access to family health services, supporting health workers and reducing backlogs, increasing mental health and substance use support, and modernizing health systems.

Bilateral agreements on Working Together, signed in 2023-24, include the initial three-year allocation of the $25 billion in new funding to provinces and territories, as well as the next three years of funding from the remaining $2.4 billion for mental health and addictions from Budget 2017 supported by the 2017 Common Statement of Principles on Shared Health Priorities.

The Government of Canada is also collaborating with provinces and territories on bilateral agreements on the shared priority of helping Canadians age with dignity close to home. These agreements include the remaining $2.4 billion over four years to improve access to home and community care from Budget 2017, and the $3 billion over five years from Budget 2021 to apply standards of care in long-term care facilities and help support workforce stability. A further $1.7 billion in federal funding is also committed to support wage increases for personal support workers and related professions.

Bilateral agreements are intended to be flexible and provinces and territories have options to tailor their respective Action Plans in response to the unique needs of their populations and geography.

The Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians Plan identifies an initial set of 8 common indicators based on shared health priorities. On August 2, 2023, CIHI released an initial snapshot of these indicators on their website.

CIHI is leading a collaborative process to review and report annual progress on these common indicators. In addition, CIHI is working with federal, provincial and territorial governments and data partners to identify a broader list of new indicators, including new Indigenous health indicators. This work will also seek to improve the availability of indicator data that can be sorted by population characteristics.

Personal Support Worker Wage Support: The federal government will provide $1.7 billion over five years to support hourly wage increases for personal support workers and related professions.

Territorial Health Investment Fund: The federal government is providing $350 million over ten years in recognition of medical travel and the higher cost of delivering health care in the territories. This represents $35 million per year, an increase from the previous $27 million.

Indigenous Health Equity Fund: The federal government is working with Indigenous partners to provide additional support for Indigenous health priorities by providing $2 billion over ten years, which will be distributed on a distinctions basis through the Indigenous Health Equity Fund.

The Government of Canada is investing close to $200 billion to support the health and well-being of Canadians, which includes $25 billion over 10 years in targeted funding to provinces and territories to improve access to family health and mental health and substance use services, support the health workforce and modernize health systems. This also includes $7.8 billion for bilateral agreements in home care, mental health and long-term care.
Agreements and action plans are available online from the Government of Canada and provinces and territories will provide annual progress updates to their residents