Letters to Provinces and Territories: Nova Scotia 2022

The Honourable Allan MacMaster, M.L.A.
Minister of Finance
Government of Nova Scotia
Provincial Building, 7th Floor
1723 Hollis Street
P.O. Box 187
Halifax, NS   B3J 2N3

Dear Minister,

I am pleased to provide you with Nova Scotia’s transfer payment amounts for 2023-24 in accordance with the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act (the Act) and relevant regulations.

Total major transfers to Nova Scotia for 2023-24 will round to $4,542 million—an increase of $484 million from 2022-23. The first estimates of your province’s Canada Health Transfer and Canada Social Transfer payments for 2023-24 are $1,305.5 million and $433.6 million respectively.  In accordance with the legislated formula under the Act and its regulations, your province’s Equalization payment for 2023-24 will be $2,802.8 million.

In 2023-24, the federal government will provide a total of $49.4 billion to provinces and territories under the Canada Health Transfer—an increase of 9.3% from 2022-23.

This increase follows the significant financial support provided by the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic, during which approximately eight out of every ten dollars invested to fight the virus and support Canadians came from the federal government.

As our governments discuss any future investments to support our health systems and health care workers, the immediate challenges faced by provincial and territorial health systems remain pressing. Our health care workers are experiencing burnout, and our hospitals are under stress due to a sharp rise in respiratory illnesses, particularly among children. Improving our health systems for Canadians is a shared responsibility, and we must ensure that new and existing funding will deliver meaningful results, including improved access to family health, mental health, and better data, and meet the needs of Canadians—both now and in the years to come.

Enclosed for your information is a table presenting the 2023-24 major transfer amounts for each province and territory. The table will be provided to your officials and posted publicly on the Department of Finance’s website on December 16, 2022.

I look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with you, the federal Minister of Health, and his provincial and territorial counterparts to serve and support Canadians.

Yours sincerely,

The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, P.C., M.P.

Major Transfer Payments for 2023-24
($ millions)
Province or Territory Equalization Territorial Formula Financing1 Canada Health Transfer Canada Social Transfer Total
2023-24
NL 0 0 664 220 884
PEI 561 0 220 73 855
NS 2,803 0 1,305 434 4,542
NB 2,631 0 1,039 345 4,015
QC 14,037 0 10,971 3,644 28,652
ON 421 0 19,214 6,382 26,017
MB 3,510 0 1,780 591 5,881
SK 0 0 1,505 500 2,005
AB 0 0 5,776 1,919 7,695
BC 0 0 6,782 2,253 9,035
NU 0 1,971 52 17 2,041
NWT 0 1,611 57 19 1,687
YK 0 1,252 56 18 1,326
Total 23,963 4,834 49,421 16,416 94,634

Totals may not add due to rounding
1 Includes transition payments of $1.3 million to Yukon and $1.7 million to the Northwest Territories (Budget 2018).

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