4 things you need to know about health care in the federal budget

On Tuesday November 4, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne stood up in Parliament to deliver Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first budget. We were hoping to see a plan that prioritized strengthening our public health care system. 

Instead, we got cuts, broken promises, and missed opportunities.

Budget 2025 demonstrates a weak commitment to expanding and improving public health care and little vision to end the crisis facing millions of Canadians who can’t access the care they need.

Here are 4 things you need to know:

1. Nearly $400 million in cuts to health

The budget makes successively deepening cuts to health, amounting to nearly $400 million a year by the end of the decade. This means losing thousands of public servants who are essential to providing national leadership for our embattled Medicare system.

2. No plan to expand pharmacare

There’s no commitment to expand national universal pharmacare to the 80% of Canadians who aren’t covered by current agreements with Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Yukon. That means millions of Canadians will continue to struggle with the cost of prescription medications they need.

3. $5 billion for buildings – but no plan for health care workers

The government will dedicate $5 billion over three years, starting in 2026-27, to a Health Infrastructure Fund for provinces and territories to improve hospitals, emergency rooms, urgent care centres, and medical schools. New hospitals are important, but our severely understaffed facilities need health professionals even more. That funding should prioritize workforce training, recruitment, and alleviating health care worker burnout. 

4. Cuts to refugee health care

The federal government will scale back health care for refugees, making these especially precarious people, many of whom are working in our health care system, even more vulnerable.

“Now is not the time to make cuts to public health care,” says Jason MacLean, Chairperson of the Canadian Health Coalition. “The affordability crisis is worsening, and Canadians need to know health care will be there when they need it most. This budget is void of caring for Canadians, and we demand better from our government.”

In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be pressing Prime Minister Carney’s government to end these cuts and continue the unfinished task of building a national, universal public health care system for everyone in Canada.

Cover photo credit to @FP_Champagne on X

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Haylee Keyes is the National Director of Development and Community Engagement for the Canadian Health Coalition