Madam Speaker, that is a very important question.
All Canadians deserve access to high-quality health care that is safe and effective. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has revealed long-standing issues in long-term care facilities that have prevented some of Canada's most vulnerable populations from accessing this level of care.
COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care facilities have led to a high number of infections and deaths across Canada. Canadians in long-term care deserve better. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government of Canada has been collaborating with provinces and territories to support and protect vulnerable Canadians, including those in long-term care facilities.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Canadian Armed Forces members were deployed in long-term care facilities in Ontario and Quebec to help control the spread of COVID-19. In the summer, the Canadian Red Cross transitioned to take on this role, and it is now supporting provinces and territories facing outbreaks in long-term care facilities.
To support front-line workers, including those in long-term care, up to $3 billion in federal funding was offered to provinces and territories to provide wage top-ups for low-income essential workers. Long-term care employees have been prioritizing the health and safety of residents through a very uncertain time. This needs to be recognized.
In order to help restart the economy while making Canada more resilient to COVID-19, a safe restart agreement was reached with the provinces and territories. This agreement included $740 million in federal funding specifically aimed at infection prevention and control measures for vulnerable populations in long-term care, home care and palliative care. It is clear that the impacts of COVID-19 are far from over. The number of outbreaks and infections in long-term care facilities continues to increase across the country.
This emphasizes that while we have taken many actions to support vulnerable Canadians throughout this pandemic, it has not yet been enough. We must, and we will, do more.
While we will continue to take every action possible to protect Canadian residents in long-term care facilities, we must also look into the future and commit to making changes so that all vulnerable Canadians are protected, and are receiving the health care they deserve well after this pandemic.
This commitment has been supported through the Speech from the Throne delivered in September, and our government has announced the target of creating new national long-term care standards. These standards will support vulnerable populations in long-term care facilities, helping to ensure residents receive the highest quality of care no matter where they reside across this country.
We will also examine additional measures for personal support workers who do an essential service by helping the most vulnerable in our communities.
Finally, as we know, many seniors and vulnerable Canadians wish to receive home care services so that they can stay in their homes longer. We will, therefore, take additional actions so that this also can be possible. As long-term care is primarily a provincial and territorial responsibility, our government will work closely with provinces and territories to implement these commitments.
No matter the level of government, we all have a common goal. That is to support the health and safety of our vulnerable Canadians. We must explore all measures to increase the resilience of those facilities and to help prevent these tragedies from reoccurring.