A New Democrat government will work with the provinces and territories to tackle wait times and improve access to primary care across the country – and we’ll work with the provinces to develop public infrastructure for secure, accessible virtual healthcare. We will identify coming gaps in health human resources and make a plan to recruit and retain the doctors, nurses and other health professionals Canadians need. New Democrats will also work with the provinces and territories to expand and improve access to palliative care across the country.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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Expand the number of family doctors and primary health teams in rural communities, by increasing by 50% (from $40,000 up to $60,000 over 5 years), the maximum debt relief that family doctors, residents in family medicine, nurse practitioners, or nurses are eligible for the under Canada Student Loans forgiveness program.

Expand the list of professionals eligible for forgiveness to include dentists, pharmacists, dental hygienists, midwives, social workers, psychologists, teachers, and early childhood educators so that rural communities have greater access to the full suite of health and social service providers they need.

Offer health care professionals, who are just starting out in their careers, a one-time income tax deduction of up to $15,000 over their first 3 years of practice to help with the costs of setting up a practice.

Undertake a review to ensure that communities that are indeed rural are fully eligible under the program.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Strengthen federal powers under the Canada Health Act and the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act to deduct health transfers from provinces who enable extra billing for publicly insured services, in order to protect the integrity of our universal public health care system.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Expand the number of family doctors and primary health teams in rural communities.

Work to give rural communities greater access to a full suite of health and social services professionals, including dentists, pharmacists, dental hygienists, midwives, social workers, psychologists, teachers, and early childhood educators.

Help health care professionals set up new practices.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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Negotiate the Canada Health Accord to prioritize mental health and rehabilitation services, access to safe abortion services and access to gender-affirming health services such as hormones, blockers, and surgery.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

Oppose any possible government move to diminish access to safe, legal abortion.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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Establish regulations under the Canada Health Act governing accessibility for sexual and reproductive health services so there is no question, that no matter where someone lives, that they have access to publicly available sexual and reproductive health services. Failure on the part of a province to meet this standard would result in an automatic penalty applied against federal health transfers.

Provide up to $10 million to Health Canada to develop an easily accessible portal that provides accurate, judgement-free, and evidence-based information on sexual and reproductive health and rights, which will include a section that counters misinformation about abortion.

Provide up to $10 million over 3 years to youth-led grassroots organizations that respond to the unique sexual and reproductive health needs of young people.

No longer provide charity status to anti-abortion organizations (for example, Crisis Pregnancy Centres) that provide dishonest counseling to women about their rights and about the options available to them at all stages of the pregnancy.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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Reinstate the ten-day waiting period to make sure somebody does not make this decision at their lowest point.

Restore the requirement for two fully independent witnesses to ensure that a vulnerable person is not being forced or coerced.

Require that any discussion of MAID only occur if raised by the patient and prevent healthcare workers from suggesting it to someone who is not seeking it. Canadians living with disabilities report regularly being in situations where MAID is suggested to or pushed on them and report how this undermines their sense of security in healthcare environments.

Repealing the Bill C-7 provision allowing MAID for those with mental health challenges. Require any patient receiving MAID to be informed/reminded immediately before receiving it and given the opportunity to withdraw consent.

Protect the right of patients to choose to receive care in a MAID-free environment.

Require healthcare practitioners approving MAID requests (MAID accessors) to examine and consult directly with the patient before approving the request (with allowances made for virtually-enabled examination where required).

Require MAID assessors to complete MAID assessor training to ensure full awareness of and compliance with laws and best practices around MAID.

— Canada's Recovery Plan, retrieved 2021-08-18

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New Democrats believe that we must do better. Just as our party led the fight to establish universal public health care for all Canadians, we are leading the fight to expand Medicare – to include quality prescription drug coverage for everyone, regardless of your job, where you live, your age, your health status or how much money you make. We will begin working with the provinces right away to target a 2022 start date, with an annual federal investment of $10 billion.

This will go hand in hand with developing a national strategy to cover drugs for rare diseases, so that coverage is no longer determined by where you live or what private insurance your family has, as is currently the case.

A national pharmacare program means access to necessary medicines and medical devices in the same way that we currently have access to medical and hospital care – free at the point of care, financed by a public insurance system that covers everyone. It means that you’ll need your health card – not your credit card – at the pharmacy till. And it puts an end to costly co-payments, deductibles and premiums that cost families hundreds and even thousands a year.

Making prescription drugs more affordable saves everyone money. Seniors, families and young people get a break. Small businesses who want to provide coverage for drug costs are able to do it. Negotiating prices with big pharmaceutical companies brings down prices for everyone – saving money in our health care system that can be used to improve care.

Our plan will guarantee that every Canadian can get the medication they need. And it will mean big savings for employers who currently pay for employee benefits, helping to reward good employers and boost economic growth. It will also cost our system less overall, as a result of pooling the purchasing power of the entire country – freeing up much-needed funds for the provinces to re-invest in improving healthcare.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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1. Expand the Canada Health Act by fully funding a universal pharmacare program

● Ensure quality prescription drug coverage for everyone in Canada, so that no Canadian skips, stretches or simply does not take their medication because they cannot afford it.

2. Create a bulk drug purchasing agency and reduce drug patent protection periods.

● Ensure that everyone in Canada is able to access affordable medication more quickly and equitably.

3. Establish a clear timeline for the implementation of universal pharmacare

● Fully establish the Canadian Drug Agency in 2022, which would assess prescription drugs and negotiate prices for a national formulary.

● Introduce federal legislation on pharmacare in 2022, based on negotiations with the provincial and territorial governments.

● Launch national pharmacare in 2022 by providing universal coverage for a list of essential medicines.

● Roll out a comprehensive formulary by January 1, 2025, instead of 2027.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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Order a public inquiry that evaluates the joint response between all levels of government with the purpose of examining what went well and what could have been done better.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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1. Expand the Canada Health Act.

● Expand the single-payer Medicare model to include Pharmacare for everyone.

● Create a bulk drug purchasing agency and reduce drug patent protection periods.

● Expand the single-payer Medicare model to include long-term care and enhanced mental health services.

● Expand the single-payer Medicare model to include free basic dental care for all Canadians.

2. Restore the Canada Health Accord.

● Increase health transfers by basing them on demographics and real health care needs in each province, replacing the current formula based on GDP growth introduced by the Harper government and retained by the Liberals.

● Negotiate the Canada Health Accord to prioritize mental health and rehabilitation services, access to safe abortion services and access to gender-affirming health services such as hormones, blockers, and surgery.

● Reduce wait times, which are a foundational issue of accessibility in the health care system, particularly in the case of primary care. Support family doctors and interprofessional teams to reduce wait times and enhance the accessibility of the care they provide to communities across Canada.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed serious weaknesses in Canada’s pandemic preparedness and response capacities. New Democrats will strengthen these system so that Canada is never again unprepared and left behind in a global pandemic. We believe the government should immediately take a leadership role in a federal vaccination strategy to ensure all Canadians can be vaccinated. Moving forward, we’ll provide stable, long-term funding for the Public Health Agency of Canada so they can protect public health and be ready with surge capacity in the event of a crisis.

Canada needs to have the capacity to produce vaccines for public health emergences, a capacity that we lost under Liberal and Conservative governments. New Democrats will establish a crown corporation charged with domestic vaccine production so that Canadians are never again at the back of the line.

To protect medical personnel, patients and essential workers, we’ll ensure that Canada maintains an adequate and responsibly- managed stockpile of personal protective equipment, with an emphasis on supporting domestic production.

During a crisis, it’s more important than ever that Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer be able to speak freely about public health issues to Canadians without the fear of political retribution. We’ll ensure that their independence is protected by law, and require the Chief Public Health Officer to report to parliament annually about recommendations to improve Canada’s public health emergency preparedness.

Finally, Canada is a leader in innovative health research, a field that is more important than ever. We will work with universities and health professionals to make sure that public research on critical health issues continues to flourish. New Democrats will reverse the Liberals’ reckless move to weaken the Global Public Health Intelligence Network, which provides surveillance and early warnings that are critical for managing international public health emergencies like pandemics. The federal government must also step up and regulate natural health products under stand-alone legislation.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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Part 1: Making Canada resilient to threats

Vaccine Research, Trials & Manufacturing Capacity

• Ramp up Canadian research and production capacity by making Canada one of the best jurisdictions globally for pharmaceutical research and development and the production of vaccines and medicines.
  • We won’t allow Liberal regulation to drive pharmaceutical companies out of Canada anymore.
  • We will follow the UK’s example by putting in place a sector strategy to grow the sector in a well-thought-out way rather than just handing out money.
  • We will also end the Liberal hostility to the pharma sector that has driven investment out of Canada, left us near the back of the line for vaccines and risks leaving us at the back of the line for new medicines. Instead, we will negotiate constructively with the industry to reduce drug prices while providing long-term regulatory certainty.
• Overhaul Canada’s Pandemic Plan and preparedness to include domestic vaccine research, trials development and manufacturing capacity and readiness - with a focus on novel vaccine platforms, keeping and attracting the best minds in Canada, and ensuring secure access to supply during pandemic scenarios - working with universities, the private sector, provinces and territories, and international partner countries to build for the future; and
• Review Health Canada’s regulatory processes and the balance between Canada’s industrial, health, and economic relationships with the global biomanufacturing sector in light of Canada’s poor performance in accessing vaccines during COVID-19.

Increasing Domestic Production of Critical Supplies

• Partner with pharmaceutical companies to increase production of critical medicines and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in Canada;
• Work with the United States to strengthen the North American supply chain for pharmaceuticals to reduce our shared reliance on imports; and use procurements by government and those receiving government funding to enhance domestic production of PPE.
• Reinstate the tariff on imported PPE to recognize and secure the longevity of Canadian manufacturers of PPE. Canadian manufacturers have responded to the pandemic by enhancing their capacities to produce PPE, and they deserve to compete within a fair domestic market. A strong domestic manufacturing industry for PPE is a pillar of pandemic readiness and ongoing resiliency. Canadian manufacturers are also at the forefront of PPE innovation, seeking to address the environmental impact of the mass manufacturing of PPE.

Stockpiles, Lab Testing & Contact Tracing

• Overhaul Canada’s National Emergency Stockpile System to ensure supplies are there to rapidly respond to infectious disease, bioterrorism, and similar threats, including ensuring the security of supply for personal protective equipment, diagnostic reagents, and swab supplies, and adopting modern tracking systems to ensure supplies are used before they expire and available when needed;

• Overhaul federal lab testing processes and the support PHAC provides for provinces and territories to markedly improve consistency and scaling of lab capabilities across Canada, including the development of rapid testing capabilities at our borders, across our cities, in rural and remote communities, and within long term care facilities; and

• Fill the response gap left by Ottawa between lab testing and costly lockdowns by working with Canadian infectious disease experts, provinces, and territories to develop evidence-based contact tracing systems for our borders and support public health efforts. Delaying and pushing unproven technologies on the provinces and territories over scientific procurement processes allowed the virus the time to spread and undermined Canada’s social, economic and health structures.

• Develop a national system for sharing data across jurisdictions on pathogen transmission, immunity levels, and vaccination rates with transparent reporting requirements and coordination among jurisdictions.

New High Containment Laboratory Capacity and Infection Control Capacities

• Bolster our infectious disease and pandemic science infrastructure, research, and expertise, through the development of new and novel high containment laboratory capabilities, alongside the National Microbiology Laboratory, to rapidly identify the threat to Canadians of novel and emerging infectious disease and bioterrorism agents, including by:

  • Enhancing our basic scientific understanding of the transmission of novel pathogens in built environments (notably, long term care facilities, hospitals, and other communal settings) on different surfaces (e.g. nurse stations, medical equipment, doorknobs, retail, and workplace surfaces) and the importance of infection control measures (e.g. masks, hand washing);

  • Supporting the development and testing of new infection control products/biomaterials, safe and high-performance architectural designs, airflow systems, and isolation facilities for the control of infectious diseases during regular times, and ensure Canada has the rapid response capabilities – including issuing science-based public health guidelines for front line workers and essentials services - during outbreaks and pandemics. Never again should essential workers be left to their own devices or our economy simply be allowed to collapse.

Part 2: Preventing pandemics

Addressing the Threat Posed by Animal Markets and Trade in Wild Animals

• Support and encourage the closure of poorly regulated wildlife markets globally that carry an elevated risk of becoming sources for future pandemics;
• End the importation of and trade in wild or exotic animals and their products that carry an elevated risk of spreading zoonotic diseases.

Prohibiting the export of deadly viruses to jurisdictions that cannot be trusted.

• The government will create a list of these countries subject to the export prohibition based on a national security assessment.

Part 3: Detecting and assessing threats

Public Health Intelligence

• Overhaul Canada’s public health intelligence-gathering systems, including restoring the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) shut down by the Liberal government and strengthen the sharing of public health intelligence across the federal government and with the provinces and territories.
• Establish a threat-level warning system that uses data points and sources from our overhauled public health intelligence-gathering systems to assign risk levels from a scale of 1-5 for Canadians when a new virus is detected.
• Overhaul the federal government’s disastrous risk communications infrastructure, including developing trusted mechanisms for communicating the real threat to Canadians of novel and emerging pathogens and rapidly changing information.

Part 4: Countering the threat

Scientific leadership

• Assign ultimate responsibility for the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to a qualified physician - public health expert with field and front line experience;
• Establish a set of actions corresponding to each level of risk in our new threat-level warning system, including but not limited to when border measures will be implemented, when travel should be restricted, and data-sharing requirements across jurisdictions.
• Develop a data-driven system of benchmarks for removing bans, restrictions, and quarantines to provide certainty to businesses and their populations.
• Ensure adequate enforcement of these actions is undertaken and that monitoring both internationally and domestically is consistent and ongoing.
• Restore the dual leadership role of the National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, within the Public Health Agency of Canada, so that infectious disease science and expertise drives our domestic pandemic response and Canada once again is a global pandemic leader; and
• Overhaul Canada’s Pandemic Plan and preparedness to include a focus on infectious diseases and bioterrorism threats rather than solely on “influenza,” which led to Ottawa’s slow response and mishandling of the novel coronavirus pandemic.
• Maintain access security and stringent screening protocols for scientists granted access to the Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg.

Strengthening Health Canada

• Strengthen the department to ensure it can rapidly review crucial innovations like new tests, treatments, and vaccines. With new variants on the horizon, we can’t afford the same bureaucratic pace as in the past.

• Partner with the private sector rather than over-rely on government. We know that there are some things best done by the private sector and will be faster to reach out for help.

• Work with the provinces to harmonize ICU training to ensure that ICU credentials are transferable among jurisdictions so that that capacity can be bolstered in emergencies.

— Canada's Recovery Plan, retrieved 2021-08-18

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● Order a public inquiry that evaluates the joint response between all levels of government with the purpose of examining what went well and what could have been done better.

● Create an intergovernmental rapid response task force, which can be activated immediately when facing an emergency.

● Ensure that Canada has a robust capacity for pharmaceutical manufacturing.

● Ensure that Canada has a sufficient PPE stockpile by increasing domestic production.

● Dedicate specific funding to strengthening the integration of public health with community-based primary care as the first access point of the health care system

● Lessen Canada’s overall dependence on global supply chains for essential goods and services.

● Strengthen the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) to flag potential public health concerns around the globe.

● Prepare for future pandemics by investing in and restructuring our health care and long-term care systems.

● Provide the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) with long-term funding to protect public health and to be ready with surge capacity in the event of a crisis.

● Invest in research and production of vaccines and therapeutics to improve Canada’s ability to domestically source vaccines and medical treatments.

● Commit to being guided by the recommendations of the relevant scientists and experts in formulating emergency response strategies.

● Accelerate Canada's move towards a net-zero emissions green economy in order to help limit further global warming and the intensification of extreme weather and climate events that such warming will provoke.

— Be Daring., retrieved 2021-09-11

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Invest $100 million to study the long-term health impacts of COVID-19, including the effects of “long-COVID” on different groups, including vulnerable populations and children.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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Provide a $100 million top-up to the Safe Return to Class Fund for ventilation improvement projects across Canada, as well as $10 million for First Nations to improve indoor air quality in on-reserve schools.

Provide $100 million to the Canada Healthy Communities Initiative with $70 million of this funding directed to a new pillar focused on increasing air quality and indoor ventilation.

Introduce a tax credit for small businesses to make it easier for them to invest in better ventilation.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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We know now that good oral health is a critical component of overall good health – and that means our health care system should cover it, too. A New Democrat government will work together with provincial partners, health professionals and dentists to develop a roadmap to incorporate universal dental care into Canada’s public health care system, and immediately deliver dental care coverage for people who don’t have any private insurance.

— Ready for Better, retrieved 2021-08-27

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We will:

• Deploy rapid testing at all border entry points and airports to screen new arrivals.

° Everyone entering Canada (by land as well as by air), irrespective of their vaccination status and whether they are considered an essential worker, will be required to take a rapid test and possibly a PCR test upon arrival.

° Rapid testing will help screen out cases, while PCR tests will provide a higher level of protection.

• Accelerate Health Canada approvals for rapid tests approved by the UK, the US, the EU, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and Taiwan. It is unacceptable that bureaucratic barriers have kept these tests out of the hands of Canadians.

• Make at-home rapid tests readily available to all Canadians.

• Immediately provide more rapid tests to provincial governments to allow them to conduct screening, particularly at schools.

• Develop a clear, evidence-based strategy for re-opening our border with clear timelines and metrics. We will restore urgency, rationality, and consistency to border regulations.

• Quickly close the border to travellers from hotspots where new variants are detected.

° We will not allow new variants into Canada as Trudeau has done through his delays in enacting border measures to protect Canadians.

— Canada's Recovery Plan, retrieved 2021-08-18

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Require that travellers on interprovincial trains, commercial flights, cruise ships, and other federally regulated vessels be vaccinated.

Ensure vaccination across the federal public service. As the country’s largest employer, this will protect the health and safety of the federal public servants and their communities, across Canada.

We will also keep working with employers in Crown corporations and federally regulated workplaces to ensure vaccination is prioritized for workers in these sectors.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Launch a $1 billion COVID-19 Proof of Vaccination Fund to support provinces and territories who implement a requirement for proof of vaccine credentials in their jurisdiction for non-essential businesses and public spaces.

Table legislation to ensure that every business and organization that decides to require a proof of vaccination from employees and customers can do so without fear of a legal challenge.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

Procure enough vaccines to ensure all Canadians have access to free COVID-19 booster shots and second-generation vaccines as needed.

— Forward. For Everyone., retrieved 2021-09-02

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