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cpc proposes 'conscience rights' for health workers
the conservative party wants to 'protect the conscience rights of healthcare professionals.' what does that mean?
it's time to vote
from mandatory vaccines to 'conscience rights,' health issues are top of mind during canada's 2021 election.
here's where canada's federal parties — liberal leader and prime minister justin trudeau, conservative leader erin o'toole, ndp leader jagmeet singh, bloc québecois leader yves-françois blancet and green party leader annamie paul — stand on healthcare issues.
photo illustration by healthing. photo credits: getty / reuters
this september, as we all try to adjust to the country re-opening even as covid cases continue, canadians will head to the polls for a federal election. while health-related issues are always important during elections, this year the subject of health and healthcare policy is centre stage: from mandatory vaccines and sick leave to “conscience rights,” long-term care and mental health, canadians will be assessing each party’s promises as they decide who to support.not all of the major parties have released their full platforms, and some new issues will likely emerge as election day draws closer. we’ll update this story as new details emerge.here’s where canada’s major federal parties stand on health issues, as of sept. 20:liberal party
prime minister justin trudeau looks on during a news conference in the backyard of the freedman family during his election campaign tour, in surrey, british columbia, canada august 25, 2021.
reuters/jennifer gauthier
covid-19
- mandatory covid vaccinations for all employees of the federal public service
- mandatory vaccination for people travelling on federally-regulated vessels including planes, trains and cruise ships
- support provincial efforts for proof-of-vaccination credentials by launching a $1 billion fund
- free vaccine boosters
- invest $100 million to study the long-term health impacts of covid
- invest $6 billion in new funding to eliminate healthcare waitlists, as well as $4 billion that’s already been committed in this year’s budget
- invest $400 million over four years to address demand for virtual care
- invest $3.2 billion to hire 7,500 new family doctors and nurses
- to attract healthcare workers to remote communities, increase the list of professionals whose student loan debts can be forgiven to include dentists, pharmacists, social workers and mental health practitioners, as well as create tax incentives for people who set up health practices in these communities
- 10 paid sick days for workers in federally-regulated jobs
- invest $5 billion to the provinces and territories for mental health care
- invest $500 million to help people with mental health challenges, homelessness, or substance use
- invest $598 million for a mental health and wellness strategy for indigenous people
- provide a $100 million top-up for ventilation improvement projects in classrooms, as well as $10 million to improve indoor air quality in on-reserve schools
- re-introduce a disability benefit act to create a direct monthly payment for low-income people between the ages of 18-64 with a disability
- make “any investments necessary” to eliminate boil-water advisories in indigenous communities
- raise the minimum wage for personal support workers (psws) to $25/hour
- train up to 50,000 new psws
- increasing home accessibility tax credits up to an additional $1,500
- establish regulations under the canada health act to protect publicly-available sexual and reproductive health services, resulting in an automatic penalty against federal health transfers to provinces that fail to meet that standard
- develop a national school food policy and work towards a national school nutritious meal program
- introduce new restrictions on the commercial marketing of food and beverages to children
- make the cost of in vitro fertilization (ivf) an eligible health expenditure under the assisted human reproduction act
conservative leader erin o’toole speaks to the media monday, august 23, 2021 in ottawa.
getty
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covid-19here’s what the conservative party, if elected, plans to do about the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
- prioritize covid-19 booster shots
- implement a national rapid screening program, which will involve:
- rapid testing at borders
- accelerate health canada approvals for rapid-testing approved in countries such as the u.s., the u.k., korea and australia
- make rapid tests widely available, both for home use and for provinces to provide to schools
- develop “a clear, evidence-based strategy” for re-opening the border; “quickly close the border to travellers from hotspots where new variants are detected”
- ramp up canadian research and production capacity via domestic vaccine research and production
- work to support an investigation into the origins of the pandemic
- growing annual grown rate of canada health transfer to 6 per cent, which would inject almost $60 billion into the healthcare system over a period of ten years
- double the direct federal investments in palliative care
- 10 paid sick days for workers in federally-regulated jobs
- dedicating “a significant portion” of funding to mental health
- offering employers who add mental health coverage to employee benefit plans tax credits of 25 per cent of the cost of additional mental health treatment for the first three years
- create pilot program that would provide $150 million in grants to nonprofits and charities that offer mental health programs
- create a three-digit suicide prevention hotline
- provide $325 million over three years to create 1000 residential drug treatment beds and 50 recovery community centres
- support culturally-relevant drug treatment programs, such as land-based programs developed and managed by indigenous communities
- make naloxone kits free
- help seniors who don’t want to move into long-term care stay in their homes, which will involve:
- amending the home accessibility tax credit by increasing the limit from $10,000 per dwelling to $10,000 per person.
- allowing seniors or their caregivers (including children) to claim the medical expense tax credit for home care
- amend the criminal code so that the operators of a licensed care facility has a presumed legal duty to the residents of the facility
- encourage faith-based and other community organizations to expand provision of palliative and long-term care
- protect the “conscience rights” of healthcare professional
- roll back legislation on medical assistance in dying (maid), including:
- reinstating the ten-day waiting period
- restoring the requirement that two independent witnesses verify a patient’s decision to seek out maid
- prevent healthcare workers from talking about maid to a patient who has not requested it
- repealing bill c-7, which allows maid for people with mental illnesses
- allow patients to receive care in a maid-free environment
- require healthcare practitioners who assess maid requests to a) complete maid assessor training, and b) examine the patient directly before approving a request, and to
- develop a national isotope strategy
- end the “discriminatory” blood ban
canada’s new democratic party (ndp) leader jagmeet singh speaks to the press in a park after prime minister justin trudeau called an early election, in montreal, quebec, canada august 15, 2021.
reuters/christinne muschi
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covid-19
- federal vaccination strategy
- more funding for public health
- making it law that chief public health officer is independently-appointed
- establishment of a crown corporation tasked with domestic vaccine production
- national universal drug program
- make a plan to attract and retain doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals in areas where there are not enough
- expanding medicare to include dental coverage, eye care, hearing care, fertility procedures
- refundable caregiver tax credit
- 10 paid sick days for workers in federally-regulated jobs
- funding on-reserve emergency management and prevention to ensure that indigenous communities have clean water
- tackle systemic racism in healthcare by demanding all indigenous people have the right to the highest standard of physical and mental health, with a right to access traditional medicines (“joyce’s law,” named for joyce echaquan)
- offering mental health care for people without private insurance
- national perinatal mental health strategy
- declaration of the opioid crisis as a public health emergency
- ending for-profit long-term care, making those homes public
- this would “legally protect access to home care and long-term care services, and ensure a consistent quality of care across the country”
- funding tied to meeting high living standards
- work with provinces to develop strategies to protect workers, offer better pay for service workers
- the development of a national seniors strategy
- will include a funded dementia strategy and an elder abuse prevention plan
- “expand and improve” access to palliative care services
- make sure that people can access safe abortion services in all regions
- nutrition for kids
- indigenous food sovereignty
- prevent the sale of blood products
green party leader annamie paul smiles as she launches their federal election campaign in toronto, ontario, canada august 15, 2021.
reuters/chris helgren
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covid-19
- order a public inquiry that evaluates the joint response of all levels of government to the covid-19 pandemic
- 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
- prepare for future pandemics by investing in and restructuring our health care and long-term care systems
- expand the canada health act to include free basic dental care for everyone, and free expanded dental care for low-income people
- form a universal pharmacare program
- expand the single-payer medicare model to include long-term care and enhanced mental health services
- create a bulk drug purchasing agency and reduce drug patent protection periods
- increase health transfers by basing them on demographics and real health care needs in each province, replacing the current formula based on gdp
- fully fund a national dementia strategy
- reduce wait times, in part by supporting family doctors and interprofessional teams to reduce wait times and enhance the accessibility of the care they provide to communities across canada
- expand telemedicine
- establish a national mental health and suicide prevention strategy
- increase investments in indigenous-led mental health
- formally include traditional healing within mental wellness and home and community care programs for indigenous communities
- provide specific funding for early mental health interventions
- move to legally regulate currently-illegal drugs as a step towards treating problematic drug use as a health issue
- declare the drug poisoning crisis a national public health emergency
- decriminalize possession of illicit drugs for personal use
- create a national safe drug supply
- invest in an integrated system of decriminalization and access to meaningful, community-based services for those persons who are seeking treatment
- implement a national education and distribution program for naloxone
- expand support for mental health services and addiction services
- bring long-term care under the canada health act
- create national standards for long-term care
- invest in infrastructure, staffing
- provide better pay for workers, as well as benefits and paid sick leave
- invest in training and education to support ongoing professional development and specialization for staff members
- require staff to learn emergency and pandemic preparedness
- set a national standard of four hours of regulated care per day for each ltc resident
- provide vaccinations to all residents and staff, including covid vaccines as well as vaccines for influenza, pneumonia, diphtheria, whooping cough
- prioritize senior care and long-term care skills for immigration status
- provide a dedicated seniors’ care transfer to provinces and territories for specific improvements to home, community and ltc separate from the federal health transfers
- this would include transformative investment in home and community care, including naturally occurring retirement communities, co-housing models, and enhanced home support programs
- increase the proportion of ltc investment in community and home-based care from 13% to 35%
- end for-profit ltc facilities and reorient ltc towards community-based models
- make the caregiver tax credit refundable so that family caregivers have more flexibility
- change the home renovation tax credit from $10,000 per household to $10,000 per person for more people to age in place
- encourage medical associations to train health-care professionals to understand and engage with climate change related health threats
- set targets for reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture
- create an adverse effects reporting database for doctors and emergency rooms to keep track of health impacts of pesticides and other chemicals
- improve food security in northern comunities
- ban neonicotinoid pesticides, which kill bees and other pollinators
- ban all forestry and cosmetic uses of glyphosate-based herbicides
- ban all toxic ingredients in personal care products
- strengthen the canadian environmental protection act (cepa) to limit the approval and use of toxic chemicals
- invoke the precautionary principle in making decisions about approvals of products, substances, projects and processes where there is the potential for irreversible harm
- revive and expand the national pesticides monitoring and surveillance network
- reduce ecological and health risks by legislating canadians’ right to a healthy environment
- protect and restore biodiversity
- ban the marketing of sugary drinks to kids
- develop a national water strategy to ensure safe drinking water for all canadians, in collaboration with provinces, territories and indigenous communities
- focus on indigenous health by upholding jordan’s principle in full
bloc leader yves-francois blanchet responds to a question during a news conference on parliament hill in ottawa, tuesday march 9, 2021.
the canadian press/adrian wyld
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covid-19here’s what the bloc québecois said it plans to do in quebec about the pandemic if elected.
- institute a program to increase health and safety in workplaces
- launch an inquest about how the pandemic has been dealt with, with a specific focus on the federal government’s preparedness
- increase the canadian government’s contribution to the world health organization, and try to get the u.s. to return to it
- develop a protocol of testing at the border, taking inspiration from the most “rigorous” plans instituted in asian countries
- making sure the government’s covid-related emergency plans don’t violate trade agreements
- making sure a percentage of vital ppe are made in quebec and in canada
- abandon ottawa’s challenge of the safe third country agreement, “which would resolve once and for all the breaches at roxham road, the main entry point for irregular border crossers looking for refugee status in canada”
- institute necessary quarantines, without sacrificing the re-opening of quebec to tourism and the reuniting of families who have been separated
- ensure testing and quarantine of temporary foreign workers occurs through the federal customs office, not through individual businesses
- increase health transfer payments from the federal government by 35 per cent
- increase paid sick leave through employment insurance for people with serious illnesses to from 15 weeks per year to 50 (the “Émilie sansfacon” law)
- increase old-age pensions by $110/month for people aged 65 and up
- improve the quality of federal services offered to seniors, including automatic enrolment in guaranteed income support and tax credits for people who want to continue working
- offer tax credits for the construction or accommodation for inter- or multi-generational housing so that seniors can live at home longer
- automatically grant tax credits for home care, rather than asking people to provide receipts
- make sure women who are pregnant or nursing have the right to preventatively withdraw from the workplace
- ensure clean tap water is available for all indigenous nations across the country
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