The 1999 Budget: Strengthening Health Care for Canadians

Access to high quality, affordable health care is essential to Canada's quality of life.

Out of our collective sense of fairness, compassion and mutual responsibility we chose as a people to create Medicare -- our cherished, universal, publicly-funded health care system.

Through substantial funding increases and strategic investments, the 1999 Budget is about using the resources freed-up by balancing the budget to strengthen and modernize Medicare -- so that it can cope with emerging demands and adapt new technologies to meet the needs of Canadians.

More importantly, through the new Social Union Framework and the federal-provincial-territorial health care agreement, we are showing Canadians what they want to see most at the dawn of a new century: their governments pursuing a common vision that puts their health and quality of life first.

Increasing the Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST)

Over the next five years, the provinces and territories will receive an additional $11.5 billion in CHST transfers -- with $6.5 billion of the total coming over the next three years.

Under the health agreement, the provinces and territories have agreed to earmark all of this increase for health care -- and they have reaffirmed their support for the five principles of the Canada Health Act: universality, comprehensiveness, accessibility, portability, and public administration.

$8 billion will be provided through future increases in the CHST and an additional $3.5 billion as an immediate one-time supplement that the provinces will have the flexibility to draw down on according to their own needs and priorities.

Depending on the manner in which the provinces and territories invest the supplement, total federal support for health care through the CHST will increase by $2.0 billion in 1999-00, 2000-01, and by $2.5 billion in each of the following three years.

This will return what is referred to as the health component of the CHST to as high as it was prior to the period of expenditure restraint in the mid-1990's.

And with the new five-year equalization formula the less prosperous provinces will receive $5 billion more in the next five years than they have over the past five years

Strategic Investments in Health Information, Research and Prevention

In addition to the CHST enrichment, the 1999 Budget allocates $1.4 billion over the remainder of this fiscal year and over the next three fiscal years to:

• enhance the quality, timeliness and availability of health information;
• expand and integrate research and innovation in health care;
• improve health services provided to First Nations and Inuit; and,
• continue exploring with the provinces innovative approaches to rural and community health care.

Highlights

• 328 million to improve public access to high quality health care information and to better inform Canadians about the performance of their health care system -- all in a spirit consistent with the new Social Union Framework;
• $240 million to support the development of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to create a integrated national health research agenda and accelerate the discovery of new cures;
• $150 million in additional funding for health-related research for the advanced research granting councils, the National Research Council and Health Canada -- to support the objectives of the CIHR while it is being created;
• An additional $200 million for the Canada Foundation for Innovation, which has a mandate to help modernize Canada's research infrastructure in several areas -- including health;
• $287 million to improve prenatal nutrition, food safety, toxic substances control, foster innovation in rural and community health, and combat diabetes; and,
• $190 million to better meet the health needs of First Nations and Inuit communities.

The 1999 Budget