Archived - Federal Proposal to Strengthen Health Care for Canadians

The Government of Canada is committed to working cooperatively with provincial and territorial governments to make new investments to improve the quality and availability of care for Canadians

In order to address key health care priorities over the long term and achieve a Health Accord, the federal government offered to make targeted investments of $11.5 billion over the next 10 years in mental health, home care, pharmaceuticals and innovation:

• $5 billion over 10 years, starting in 2017-18, for better home and palliative care;
• $5 billion over 10 years, starting in 2017-18, in support of mental health initiatives;
• $1 billion over 4 years, starting in 2018-19, to address critical home care infrastructure requirements; and,
• $544 million over 5 years, starting in 2017-18, for federal and pan-Canadian health organizations to support Federal, Provincial and Territorial initiatives on prescription drugs and health innovation.

The Government of Canada also committed to make investments to continue expanding use of electronic health records, promote innovation in the delivery of health care services and support provinces and territories in the shared effort to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

This represented an additional $25 billion over the next five years to provincial and territorial governments, including $20 billion in additional Canada Health Transfer (CHT) amounts relative to 2016-17.

The federal government's aim is to ensure that new funding translates into better health care for Canadians.

To support this objective, provincial and territorial governments have been asked to measure and report on results and performance to ensure a transformation in care and improvements in services to Canadians.