MP Sonia Sidhu welcomes strengthening public health care in Canada with key investments in Budget 2022
April 25, 2022
News Release – Brampton, Ontario
Improving and expanding our public health care system is a priority for this government. In January 2020 before COVID-19 hit, Brampton city council voted unanimously to declare a health-care emergency amid overcrowding and excessive wait times at our hospitals. While health is a provincial jurisdiction, since the onset of the pandemic, the federal government has invested more than $69 billion to lead a coordinated strategy to protect the health and safety of Canadians.
Last week, Canada’s Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos and our local Minister of Seniors Kamal Khera visited our Region of Peel Medical Officer of Health Dr. Lawrence Loh. They listened to his feedback, encouraged Bramptonians to continue to get vaccinated and discussed key health investments in this year’s federal budget.
Some of these measures include:
- Reducing surgery and procedure backlogs by proposing to provide provinces and territories with an additional $2 billion through a one-time Canada Health Transfer (CHT) top-up to ensure nurses and hospital staff have the resources necessary to repair the damage caused to our health care system by the pandemic.
- Bringing more health care workers to the communities that need them most by increasing Canada Student Loans forgiveness by 50 per cent for doctors and nurses working in underserved rural or remote communities and expanding the list of eligible professionals under the program.
- Helping improve quality of life for Canada’s aging population by investing in innovations in brain health and aging through the Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation; and ramping up efforts to learn more about dementia and brain health, improve treatment and outcomes for persons living with dementia, and evaluate and address mental health impacts on caregivers and models of care by supporting the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
- Supporting the mental health and well-being of Canadians by providing $140 million over two years for the Wellness Together Canada portal so it can continue to provide Canadians with tools and services to support their mental health and well-being.
- Researching the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians and our health care system by providing $20 million over five years to support additional research efforts.
We will continue to work with provinces and territories to support Canadians as they age, invest in our health care workers and make our health care system more accessible. These investments will make a real difference in the lives of Brampton families when it comes to accessing high quality health care services.
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CONTACT:
The Office of Sonia Sidhu, Member of Parliament, Brampton South
P: (905) 846-0076 | E: [email protected]