The findings stand in stark contrast to the rhetoric that has punctuated federal and provincial health negotiations over the last several years, as health systems struggled in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic
Despite castigation from provincial premiers over lagging federal contributions to health spending, an analysis of 20 years of health funding data shows that federal transfers have mostly outpaced increases to provincial health budgets.
Two years ago, a shortage of health workers led to emergency room closures and extreme backlogs for services across the country and premiers demanded the federal government pay a greater share of the health spending bill. In 2005-06, federal health transfers grew 39 per cent in one year while provincial health spending grew by six per cent.Federal health-care spending was far higher during the COVID-19 pandemic because of specific transfers. Those extra funds stopped flowing in 2022-23, by which time the federal share of total provincial spending had grown just slightly to 21.2 per cent.
“Now what we need to do is to begin to transform how our system functions. We need to move from a crisis-based system where we wait until people are really sick and then we deal with it, to being upstream and avoiding illness and being engaged in prevention.” In February 2023, about 10 days after Trudeau tabled the latest health funding offer, the premiers issued a joint statement to reluctantly accept it.
It’s important to know how much each government is contributing so that voters can hold them accountable, said Haizhen Mou, a professor with the University of Saskatchewan’s graduate school of public policy. Territories were not included because health spending records couldn’t be verified in some cases. The territories also receive additional support from the federal government to fund necessary travel and accommodations for some patients that can’t be treated near their homes.
Cent Government Spending Share Time Province Transfers Paul Martin The Canadian Press Doug Ford
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