INVESTING IN HEALTH CARE

Building Stronger, Healthier Families

Strong, reliable, and publicly funded universal health care is important to everyone– and to our economy, especially here at home where health care is a top priority for many Nova Scotians . When we are in good physical and mental health, with good access to health care and affordable access to the prescription drugs we need to get and stay healthy, we are better able to work, contribute to our communities, and care for our families.

Public Health Care

We will strengthen health care and make sure all Canadians get the high-quality care they deserve.

For more than a decade, Conservative inaction put the future of our public health care system at risk. We reversed that worrisome trend, moving forward with new health accords, investing billions more, and making sure that home care and mental health services have the funding they need to make a real difference in people’s lives.

We will continue to collaborate with the provinces and territories to move forward with more accessible care, shorter wait times, and better health outcomes, and we will:

  • make sure that every Canadian has access to a family doctor or primary health care team, improving the quality of care for the nearly five million Canadians who today lack access;

  • set clear national standards for access to mental health services so Canadians can get the support they need quickly, when they need it most;

  • continue to make home care and palliative care more available across the country; and

  • take the critical next steps to implement national universal pharmacare so that all Canadians have the drug coverage they need at an affordable price.

We will back up these commitments with an additional commitment of $6 billion over the next four years, tied to outcomes and negotiated with the provinces and territories.

Child Disability Benefit

We will double support to parents who care for special needs kids.

Parents who care for their special needs children go the extra mile every day. They take care of their kids’ physical, emotional, and education needs; they advocate to get the care and services their kids need to be healthy and happy; they often work multiple jobs to pay for expensive services; and they never stop worrying about what other challenges the future might bring. These hard-working parents deserve our respect – and need our help.

We will move forward with more help for these family caregivers by immediately doubling the Child Disability Benefit. This tax-free monthly benefit helps children whose impairment is severe, and prolonged by certain conditions such as learning and speech disabilities, psychological disorders, and autism spectrum disorder, among others. We also recognize that there is more to do to improve how children and families access this benefit. We will work closely with families and experts as the benefit is increased, to ensure children get the help they need.

This increased benefit would give families of a child with a disability more than $2,800 in extra help, right away, with up to $5,664 in total financial support available each year – giving more than 150,000 children and their families more money to help with the costs of care.

Pediatric Cancer Research

We will increase our investments in pediatric cancer research next year.

Each year, nearly 1,000 children are diagnosed with cancer – a life-threatening diagnosis for many children and a life-changing moment for everyone who loves them. To improve federal health research that can help lead to better outcomes and healthier lives for these young patients, we will move forward with investing an additional $30 million next year in pediatric cancer research.

We will also work closely with families, experts, and researchers over the next year to develop a long-term plan to ensure pediatric cancer research has the funding it needs to be sustainable and to help families when they need help most.

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