SEIU Healthcare is committed to your safety and security, and we wanted to share some highlights from Canada’s just released 2022 federal budget. We’re pleased that working families will see bold progress on dental care and child care. To be clear, we expect much more to help fix the ongoing health human resource crisis across the care economy. Going forward, SEIU Healthcare will have our voice heard when the federal government and provinces negotiate a new transfer agreement for services like hospitals and home and community care. And in the coming weeks, we will continue to have our voice heard to strengthen new national standards for a better long-term care system because we know the conditions of work become the conditions of care.
– Highlights from Canada’s 2022 Budget –
Dental Care: new federal dental benefits for workers
Budget 2022 also includes a range of measures that will help to bring down the cost of living, including: • $5.3 billion to provide dental care for Canadians with family incomes of less than $90,000 annually, starting with under 12 years-olds in 2022, expanding to under 18 years-olds, seniors and persons living with a disability in 2023, with full implementation by 2025 (Page 11, Canada’s Federal Budget 2022)
Health Care: additional investments
In 2022-23, the Canada Health Transfer will provide provinces and territories with $45.2 billion in support—an increase of 4.8 per cent over the baseline for 2021-22. Thanks to Canada’s strong economic recovery, the Canada Health Transfer is projected to provide provinces and territories with $12 billion more in funding over the next five years than what was expected prior to the pandemic. (Page 154, Canada’s Federal Budget 2022)
Child Care: reduced costs
The federal government reached agreements with all 13 provinces and territories. This means, by the end of 2022, that Canadian families will have seen their child care fees reduced by an average of 50 per cent. By 2025-26, it will mean an average child care fee of $10-a-day for all regulated child care spaces across Canada. In Ontario, fees will be reduced by an initial 25 per cent retroactive to April 1, 2022. (Page 114, Canada’s Federal Budget 2022)
SEIU Healthcare: our expectations going forward
We need better from the federal government to support health care workers, to improve working conditions, and to increase staffing levels and wages. Our union has clear expectations for the federal government about what is required for a stronger health care workforce, including greater accountability from the provinces about how they spend federal investments on health care. In the coming weeks, we will continue to have our voice heard to strengthen new national standards for a better long-term care system. We know the conditions of work become the conditions of care and it is our expectation that you have better supports to do your job well and to do it safely.