Bill C-25 Provides $5 Billion in Pandemic Support From The Federal Government
By Dami Igbinyemi
Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, announced the payment of $5 billion to provinces and territories, split up evenly per capita to further support vaccination operations as well as ensuring our health care system stays afloat during and after the pandemic.
Bill C-25 was first announced on March 25, 2021, to provide an additional $7.2 billion in support of urgent health care needs across the country, vaccination roll-out and local infrastructure projects in our communities and cities. The breakdown of the funding includes: $4 billion through Canada Health Transfer to help relieve immediate health care system pressures, $1 billion one-time payment to guarantee and increase COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, and $2.2 billion to focus on short-term infrastructure priorities in municipalities and First Nation communities.
The $4 billion funding will help provinces and territories tackle the pressure on the immediate health systems such as clearing the buildup of medical procedures, patient care, and access to primary care put on hold due to the pandemic. The $1 billion funding will provide for a range of vaccine-related costs including hiring and training immunizers, establishing bigger vaccination sites, setting up mobile units, and connecting with Indigenous communities to increase vaccine roll-out.
“Fighting the COVID-19 pandemic has been a Team Canada effort. We said we would do whatever it takes to support Canadians and today we are delivering needed funding to address the ongoing strains on our health care systems and support the vaccine roll-out across the country. This investment in all provinces and territories will help us finish the fight against COVID-19 and ensure that Canadians are able to receive the care they need and deserve as we move forward to the brighter days ahead.”
-The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
In addition to the support provinces and territories have received to fight against COVID-19, the Government of Canada is providing $83.9 billion in major transfers to provinces and territories in 2021-2022. This breaks down to $43.1 billion through the Canada Health Transfer, $20.9 billion through Equalization, $15.5 billion through the Canada Social Transfer, and $4.4 billion through Territorial Formula Financing. To date, more than eight out of every ten dollars to fight the pandemic has been provided by the federal government.
For more information on the breakdown of how funding will be distributed to individual provinces and territories click here.
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