Minister Marci Ien highlights Budget 2023 investments to strengthen public health care

News release

April 11, 2023 - Mississauga, Ontario - Women and Gender Equality Canada

Today, the Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, visited the Mississauga Academy of Medicine (University of Toronto Mississauga [UTM] Campus), East Mississauga Community Healthcare Centre, and the Family Health Team at the Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga, Ontario, to highlight Budget 2023 investments in public health care. These investments will ensure all Canadians receive the care they deserve and need, wherever they are located.

Canada has made a remarkable recovery from the COVID recession. Canada’s economic growth was the strongest in the G7 over the last year, and today, 830,000 more Canadians are employed than before the pandemic, including 361,600 in Ontario. Inflation in Canada has fallen for eight months in a row, our unemployment rate is near its record low, and, supported by our Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care, the labour force participation rate for women aged 25 to 54 reached at a record high of 85.7 per cent in February.

Budget 2023 builds on this important progress.

To strengthen Canada’s universal public health care system, the budget delivers $198.3 billion, including $77 billion in Ontario to reduce backlogs, expand access to family health services, and ensure provinces and territories can provide the high quality and timely health care Canadians expect and deserve. This includes $46.2 billion in new funding to provinces and territories through new Canada Health Transfer measures, as well as tailored bilateral agreements to meet the needs of each province and territory, personal support worker wage support, and a Territorial Health Investment Fund. This funding is to be used to improve and enhance the health care Canadians receive and is not to be used by provinces and territories in place of their planned health care spending.

With a responsible fiscal plan that will see Canada maintain the lowest deficit and the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, Budget 2023 will help to build a Canada that is more secure, more sustainable, and more affordable for people from coast to coast to coast.

Quotes

“It is a challenging time in a challenging world, but there is no better place to be than Canada. Budget 2023 is our plan to make life more affordable, strengthen public health care, and build a stronger, more sustainable, and more secure Canadian economy—for everyone. The investments in Budget 2023 are an important step towards ensuring Canadians live healthier and happier lives.”

The Honourable Marci Ien, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth

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Contacts

Media may contact:

Johise Namwira
  
Press Secretary and Issues Manager  
Office of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth  
873-353-0985  
Johise.Namwira@fegc-wage.gc.ca

Media Relations
  
Women and Gender Equality Canada  
819-420-6530  
FEGC.Media.WAGE@fegc-wage.gc.ca

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