3.1 Strengthening Health Care with a New 10-year Accord

• We will negotiate a new ten-year health accord with the provinces and territories in 2014. The accord will guarantee a continued strong federal contribution – including the 6 per cent escalator - to Canada’s public health care system – in return for a clear, monitored and enforced commitment to respect the principles of the Canada Health Act and to the integrity and modernization of health care;
• We will work with provincial and territorial partners to:
  • Promote a clear commitment to the single-payer system;
  • Make progress on primary care;
  • Take appropriate steps to replace fee-for-service delivery;
  • Take first steps to reduce the costs of prescription medicines for Canadians, employers and governments;
  • Extend coverage to out-of-hospital services like home care and long-term care.

Back to top

3.2 Investing in More Family Doctors and Nurses

• We will work with the provinces and territories to address the shortage of doctors, nurses and other health care professionals by training 1,200 new doctors over the next 10 years, adding 6,000 new training spaces for nurses over six years and substantially increasing the number of training spaces for other health professionals;
• In collaboration with the provinces and territories, we will establish programs aimed at recruiting and supporting low-income, rural and aboriginal medical students.

Back to top

3.3 Expanding Care for Seniors

• Establish a new designated federal home care transfer to guarantee a basic level of home care services to all Canadians wherever they live;
• Initiate a new designated federal long-term care transfer to begin addressing the shortage of quality care spaces across the country;
• Double the funding for forgivable loans under the Home Adaption for Seniors’ Independence Program (HASIP) to help seniors remain in their own homes;
• We will introduce an Inter-generational Home Forgivable Loan Program, modeled on a Manitoba Government initiative, to help up to 200,000 families a year retrofit their homes to create self-contained secondary residences for senior family members. Families will be eligible for a forgivable loan to cover 50 per cent of the costs of a renovation up to a maximum of $35,000.

Back to top

3.4 Making Medicines More Affordable

• We will work with the provinces and territories to save Canadians money on the cost of their prescription medications, including, as finances permit:
  • Improved assessment to ensure quality, safety and cost and health effectiveness of prescription drugs;
  • Using bargaining power in pharmaceutical purchases;
  • Cutting administrative costs through public administration;
  • Establishing science-based formularies and clinical guidelines to advance evidence-based practice by physicians;
  • More aggressive price review;
  • Eliminating kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies to pharmacists;
  • Moving towards more publicly funded research and development, driven by public priorities, not commercial profits.

Back to top

3.5 Keeping Kids Healthy and Safe in Sports

• We will implement a Children’s Nutrition Initiative to support and expand provincial and local programs that provide healthy meals to school-children;
• We will enact the NDP’s National Strategy for Serious Injury Reduction in Amateur Sport Act.

Back to top