THUNDER BAY – POLITICS – Thunder Bay Rainy River MP Don Rusnak says, “This government is committed to working with our provincial and territorial partners to improve the quality of health care services, such as mental health, in-home and seniors’ care, for Canadian families. This agreement is an important step forward towards providing better health care and health outcomes to people across those regions.”
On March 13 Ontario signed onto a new national health accord that will invest an additional $4.2 billion into Ontario’s medicare system over the next 10 years. Under the new agreement, Ontario will receive an additional $1.9 billion for mental health care, and an additional $2.3 billion to fund high quality in-home care. This accord will support transformative change in Canada`s healthcare system, and deliver better health care for Canadians in priority areas.
The provincial governments of Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta, who all signed on to the accord this week, join New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Saskatchewan, Prince Edward Island and British Columbia in agreeing to the new funding arrangement. Manitoba is currently the only province which has not agreed to the accord.
The targeted investments in home care and mental health care are in addition to the existing legislated commitments through the Canada Health Transfer (CHT), which will continue to grow in the future.
