Debates of Sept. 16th, 2024
House of Commons Hansard #336 of the 44th Parliament, 1st Session
Question No.2849—Questions on the Order PaperRoutine Proceedings
Jenny Kwan Vancouver East, BC
NDP
With regard to the $36 billion in planned spending reductions for the Canada Health Transfer announced in 2011: what services were impacted by the spending reduction, broken down by (i) province and territory, (ii) year, (iii) health field?
Yasir Naqvi Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health
Liberal
Mr. Speaker, in December 2011, the Government of Canada announced that the Canada Health Transfer, or CHT, would continue to grow at six per cent annually from 2014-15 to 2016-17, and, beginning in 2017-18, the CHT would grow in line with a three-year moving average of nominal gross domestic product, or GDP growth, with funding guaranteed to increase by at least three per cent per year.
The December 2011 announcement effectively extended the six per cent CHT escalator for three additional years beyond the legislated time frame set out in the September 2004 10-year Plan to Strengthen Health Care, which was to end in 2013-14. This resulted in the CHT continuing to grow at six per cent annually for 2014-15 to 2016-17, thereby providing provinces and territories with additional CHT growth in those years. Since that time, the CHT has grown at an average annual rate of almost five per cent under its current GDP-based escalator, which provides provinces and territories with ongoing and predictable funding for healthcare. In addition, budget 2017 included a targeted investment of $11 billion in federal funding over 10 years to improve home and community care and mental health and addiction services.
Estimates of hypothetical gains or losses that might have occurred, such as the $36-billion estimate provided by the Council of the Federation, or CoF, in 2012, do not account for these additional investments in the years following.
Looking forward, budget 2024 confirmed the government's commitment under the “Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians” funding plan, first announced by the Prime Minister on 7 February 2023, to provide eligible provinces and territories with a five per cent CHT growth guarantee, to be paid through annual top-up payments, for the five-year period 2023-24 to 2027-28. The growth guarantee is currently valued at $15.3 billion over the 10-year duration of the “Working Together” plan, which ends in 2032-33.
Historical data from 1980 to 2024 for the CHT and other major federal transfers, broken down by province and territory and by year, can be found at the following link: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/4eee1558-45b7-4484-9336-e692897d393f/resource/b7d86b5e-0615-4601-bb36-559953e374ef
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