Question Period Note: Long-Term Funding for the Public Health Agency of Canada

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• To enable Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada (GC) was required to make significant short and medium-term investments to increase the Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) capacity as the lead federal Agency in the COVID-19 response. A PHAC renewal exercise, which is already underway, will help inform longer-term financial needs.
• We recognize the importance of ensuring that the Public Health Agency of Canada has the resources required to sustain its pandemic operations and advance a broad range of public health issues.
• We are working to ensure that immediate resourcing needs are addressed, while also examining the level of resources needed over the long term.
• The Public Health Agency of Canada is undergoing an exercise that will help guide the longer-term financial needs of the Agency. It is focused on lessons learned during the pandemic and positioning the Agency for the future.

If pressed
• The government is investing significantly to ensure that the Public Health Agency of Canada has the immediate funding it needs to respond to the pandemic in the short-term.
• Many of these investments will continue to benefit Canadians into the future.

The Agency’s annual spending authorities at the onset of the pandemic were $641 million. Since 2019-20, the Agency has received over $30 billion of new funding to sustain its COVID-19 pandemic response. This funding has allowed the Agency to strengthen existing functions and assume new ones to support Canada’s pandemic response. Given the unpredictable trajectory of the pandemic, PHAC’s expanded role is likely to be required for the foreseeable future. As its role in the pandemic response continues to evolve, the Agency is focused on ensuring that it has the resources and support necessary to continue protecting the health and safety of Canadians.

• PHAC’s current 2022-23 budget, which includes Main Estimates, Supplementary Estimates A and Statutory Authorities for Bill C-8, is $10.3 billion. These funds will mainly contribute to the Agency’s ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response, including medical research and vaccine deployment; the acquisition of therapeutics; surge capacity; border and travel measures, and isolation sites; and other critical capabilities.
• The Economic and Fiscal Update 2021 announced an investment of $409 million in 2022-23 to support ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response activities such as strengthened surveillance, laboratory research, emergency management operations, and human resources capacity. This builds on previous investments for the Agency’s surge capacity of $660 million, as announced in the Fall Economic Statement 2020.
• Budget 2022 reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to strong public health. The Budget identified a number of investments, totalling $534.2 million over five years, that will directly impact the work of the Agency, including strengthening the Agency’s key surveillance and risk assessment capacities, supporting the operations of the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile, accelerating innovations in brain health and aging, and for the Canadian Proof of Vaccine Credential.