Responding to federal budget 2022
By Pat Van Horne, USW member of the CHC Board of Directors
Health care “for all” should mean pharmacare, improved long-term care and dental care.
Here is how some CHC member organizations responded to the recent Federal Budget and health care priorities . . .
Pharmacare and Public Health Care
“Waiting until the end of 2023 to get the pharmacare details is disappointing, particularly because the country has already been waiting for years.” – Unifor
“The federal government is only offering past promises with no new funding. These promises are focused on regulatory initiatives . . .The blueprint for the implementation of national, universal, single-payer pharmacare was outlined by the National Advisory Panel. The federal government needs to fund and implement this plan and the NDP needs to press them to ensure that investment is made and that a pharmacare bill promised in 2023 is substantial.” – National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE)
“While the commitments to implement national pharmacare, dental care and affordable housing are encouraging, without meaningful action in the budget to address the crisis in health staffing, it simply falls far short of what patients and health care workers needed to see.” – Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU)
“Canada’s unions will continue to press the government on addressing the dire shortage of nurses and health workers, (along with) making pharmacare a reality for the many families struggling to afford needed medicines. . . When parties work with us and put people before politics, that means workers can thrive, instead of just survive.” – Canadian Labour Congress (CLC)
“No funding in this budget for pharmacare . . .(The government) says it will table a pharmacare bill and have it passed by 2023, then ask Canadian Drug Agency to develop a national formulary of essential medicines and a bulk purchasing plan – the same as the commitment made in the NDP-Liberal Supply and Confidence Agreement.” – Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
“We need better from the federal government to support health care workers, to improve working conditions, and to increase staffing levels and wages. Our union has clear expectations for the federal government about what is required for a stronger health care workforce, including greater accountability from the provinces about how they spend federal investments on health care.” – SEIU Healthcare
Long-Term Care
“The government has confirmed promised funds of $4-billion under a ‘Helping Health Care Systems’ line in the budget. Some of this will be for long-term care but, beyond the 2021-22 fiscal year, there is no new spending. There is a promise of a ‘Safe Long-Term Care Act’ but this must include national standards that are strong, enforceable, and ensure accountability. Long term care, like dental care, should be brought under the Canada Health Act to ensure seniors across Canada are treated equitably and provided with the care they deserve. . . The budget falls far short of that commitment.” – NUPGE
“In long-term care, there was hope the government would take some important steps to re-orient long-term care towards not-for-profit models to improve quality of care and employment. But no moves were made on that front.” – Unifor
“Long-term care is barely mentioned in the budget, except referencing the previously announced $4-billion funding commitment. There is no mention of the Safe Long-Term Care Act. . . Our hospitals have been rocked and our long-term care system has had the highest COVID-fatality rates in the G7. The past two years have been devastating for Canadians because our governments failed to invest in health care. It’s unconscionable for the Trudeau government to be continuing that failure now.” – CUPE
“We will continue to have our voice heard to strengthen new national standards for a better long-term care system because we know the conditions of work become the conditions of care.” – SEIU Healthcare
Dental Care
“The $5.3-billion over 5 years for dental care is a significant investment and in line with expectations. While it is important to invest in increasing access to dental care, this announcement does not expand our public health care system to include dental care. Instead, it acts as an insurance scheme, which utilizes existing private dental care. – NUPGE
“A fully-implemented, $5.3-billion plan for families with incomes under $90,000 in 2025 is good news . . . There was also hope the government might address the under-paid and under-resourced nature of much of the care economy, But, even after lessons learned through the pandemic about the essential nature of care work, workers in the industry did not see any efforts to raise wages, improve working conditions or increase staff.”– Unifor
“A surtax on banks and insurance companies, and investments in making housing more affordable while providing free dental care to low-income kids, are concrete actions towards building a new and better normal.” – CLC
“We’re pleased that working families will see bold progress on dental care and child care. To be clear, we expect much more to help fix the ongoing health human resource crisis across the care economy.” – SEIU Healthcare
