Thank you, Chairperson and members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance.
My name is Steven Staples. I am the national director of policy and advocacy for the Canadian Health Coalition.
The Canadian Health Coalition was founded in 1979 to defend and expand public medicare in Canada. We are comprised of frontline health care workers, unions, community groups and experts. I am delighted to speak to you on the topic of the pre-budget consultations in advance of the 2023 federal budget. The aspect that we would like to address today is public health care spending.
Today we would like to make six recommendations to the government through this committee.
One, we need to pass Bill C‑31, which includes the dental benefit, and transform the benefit into a robust program for everyone in Canada with universal coverage as soon as possible.
Two, we need to move forward with the Canada pharmacare act by 2023 to provide free coverage for prescribed medicines, funded by $3.5 billion for essential medicines, as recommended by the 2019 government-appointed Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, led by Dr. Eric Hoskins.
Three, we need to increase investments to end the health care human resources crisis, beginning by delivering on the governing party's 2021 election promises to provide $3.2 billion to the provinces and territories for the hiring of 7,500 family doctors, nurses and nurse practitioners. In addition, as promised, we need to train up to 50,000 new personal support workers and fund their guaranteed minimum wage of at least $25 per hour.
Four, we need to introduce and pass the safe long-term care act by 2025, which must enforce national standards as well as ensuring patients receive at least four hours of direct care. Additionally, we need to provide funding to promote publicly owned non-profit long-term care facilities while phasing out for-profit investors from the long-term care sector.
Five, we need to work with the provinces and territories to increase federal funding through the Canada health transfer that is accountable while improving outcomes for people in Canada through new public health care programs such as dental care and pharmacare.
Six, we need to enforce the five principles and the conditions of the Canada Health Act to ensure Canadians are not faced with extra billing, user fees and diminished accessibility to health care as some provinces move forward to for-profit care providers, beginning with funding more robust monitoring and sanctioning capacity by the strategic health care policy branch.
That's what we need to do in this budget.
The Canadian Health Coalition has gone on record supporting the terms of the confidence and supply agreement announced by the leaders of the governing Liberals and the NDP in March 2022. The agreement contains four health care commitments by the Prime Minister: public dental care, national universal pharmacare, frontline health care investments and safe long-term care. In return, the government achieves stability through confidence votes with the support of the NDP.
Our chairperson, Pauline Worsfold, who is a frontline nurse in an Edmonton hospital, said, “This agreement has the potential to deliver significant improvements in public health care for patients, families, and frontline workers.” Pollsters tell us that it has widespread public support, with close to six in 10 Canadians being comfortable or somewhat comfortable with the agreement between the Liberals and the NDP.
Already we are seeing the benefits of parliamentary co-operation with Bill C‑31 and the dental benefit act. It is estimated that 500,000 Canadian children will benefit from the initial targeted investment, and we are encouraged by Minister of Health Duclos' comments that this is an interim measure and that the program will be expanded in the coming years.
We support the Canada Health Act and its principle of universality, and we would like to see public dental care be available for all families, not just those that pass a means test.
I'll reserve the rest of my comments for the discussion. I look forward to your questions.
Thank you.