Premiers met today to discuss the future sustainability of Canadian health care, calling once again for an immediate and significant injection of funding from the federal government into provincial and territorial health systems. For the past several months, provincial and territorial leaders have put the spotlight on health care funding, demanding urgent assistance to the tune of $28 billion to be invested immediately, with a further increase of the federal share of health transfers from the current 22% to 35%.
With the provinces and territories bearing the lion’s share of responsibility for health care, the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) supported the premiers’ call for greater investment in the past and once again today. Canada’s nurses believe any new funding must be spent on strengthening public health care and ensuring that our ability to deliver safe care is among the best in the world.
The CFNU has urged the federal government to provide the appropriate financial and administrative supports to the provinces and territories. The federal government must take concrete steps to reverse the race to the bottom facing Canada’s health care workforce, including enhancing our nation’s capacity to collect and apply data to respond to the shortage of health care workers around the country, and ensure Canadians can access high-quality health care into the future. It is time for the federal government to step up and develop a robust and well-funded pan-Canadian health human resources strategy.