QUESTION PERIOD — Ministry of Health
Health Care Transfers
February 9, 2022
Good afternoon, minister. Thank you for being here. My question is about the provinces’ requests for increased, recurrent funding for health care. According to official statistics, the federal government contributes about 22% of provincial health care budgets. At the last meeting of the Council of the Federation, the provincial premiers called for that contribution to be increased to 35%.
Your government has so far responded by saying that its priority is fighting the pandemic and helping Canadians and businesses. That’s what you did. Now, however, more and more experts, political leaders and even colleagues of yours are saying that we’re going to have to learn to live with this virus. Some provinces have even announced that they’re doing away with the vaccine passport. Don’t you think it’s time for Ottawa to agree to the provinces’ request to provide increased, permanent funding, in order to avoid having to shut down the economy because of a lack of capacity in our hospitals?
Thank you very much for this excellent question, Senator Gignac. I will give you a three-part answer.
First, as you mentioned, it is important to remember that the provinces and territories and the Government of Canada were working together very closely over the past few months. As a result, Canada came through COVID-19 in much better shape than other countries. Canada’s mortality rate is much lower than that of all other G7 countries, except for Japan. Our economy is bouncing back more quickly than many other economies. The OECD is forecasting that, of the G7 countries, Canada will have the most significant growth by 2023.
That said, there is much work to be done to fix the health care system. We must fix the damage done by the COVID-19 pandemic, the significant delays and cancellations of diagnostic tests, treatments and surgeries. We also have to fix it because we have to keep fighting COVID-19. There will be other variants. COVID-19 is not going away. No legislation or wishful thinking will stop COVID-19 anywhere on the planet over the next few months or even the next few years. We must get our health system ready to fight future waves and future variants. That is why all the work that has been done to this point and that will continue to be done, not to mention all the money, is so important.
I’m sorry, minister, but your time has expired.
