Archived - Fighting COVID-19
Protecting the health and safety of Canadians.
After bringing down the number of COVID-19 cases with spring lockdowns, Canada is now facing a resurgence of the virus with rapid growth in daily case counts. The Government of Canada has made significant investments in health care, in securing vaccines, in procuring medical and personal protective equipment, in income support and paid sick leave, and overall, in keeping Canadians and businesses safe, healthy, and solvent through the turbulence of the pandemic. The best economic policy continues to be a strong health policy.
Protecting the Health and Safety of Canadians
Vaccines and Therapeutics
To date, Canada has invested over $1 billion in vaccine agreements and secured a domestic supply of up to 429 million doses of promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates. Canada has secured the most diverse portfolio of any country.
All Canadians can rest assured that a safe and effective vaccine will be available to them – for free – once it is ready. Canada has also made and continues to make investments to increase vaccine manufacturing capacity here in Canada.
Canada is supporting a coordinated approach, including through joint development of plans with provinces and territories. Canada has secured specialized freezer capacity to hold tens of millions of doses at any given time, ensuring we can handle the specifications of potential vaccine candidates. The Canadian Armed Forces are working with the Public Health Agency of Canada to assist in logistics planning for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. This Team Canada approach will ensure that everyone can access a COVID-19 vaccine as seamlessly as possible, including in remote and isolated communities.
Investments to date
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$126 million in the government’s capacity to manufacture vaccines by establishing a new bio-manufacturing facility at the National Research Council’s Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre in Montréal to enable the National Research Council to increase vaccine manufacturing to up to two million doses per month.
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$792 million in the Strategic Innovation Fund to support, among other things, research and development, clinical trials, and manufacturing of vaccines and therapeutics to fight COVID-19. This includes investments in bio-manufacturing capacity in Canada’s private sector, such as at AbCellera and Medicago.
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$23 million for the National Research Council to provide support for research and development and help the Canadian industry to develop a COVID-19 vaccine and therapeutics.
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$150 million to secure equipment and supplies for packaging vaccines once they are manufactured.
Testing and Contact Tracing
The Government of Canada has made significant investments to ensure Canadians can be tested for COVID-19. This included seeking a commitment from provinces and territories to increase testing capacity of up to 200,000 tests per day and providing $4.28 billion in support to help them reach that goal. The Government of Canada has been working to secure rapid testing technology, which is one of several emerging technologies that can be used to quickly identify and respond to outbreaks of the virus. In total, Canada has procured over 38 million rapid tests which is over three times the total number of tests performed to date. More than 5 million rapid test kits have been delivered to provinces so far.
The COVID Alert App is a nationwide mobile app that lets users know if they have been exposed to COVID-19. The app is available to all Canadians and is currently connected to the health systems in Northwest Territories and every province except British Columbia and Alberta. As of late November, there have been more than 5.5 million downloads of the app and over 6,200 positive cases registered using the app, notifying untold thousands more people of a potential exposure and preventing thousands more new cases.
Proposed investments
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$565.4 million to Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada to ensure that federal and provincial laboratories continue to receive sufficient testing supplies and to support the roll-out of new rapid COVID-19 tests and new innovative approaches to testing.
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$20.5 million in funding to Canadian Digital Service to continue delivering existing critical services, including the COVID Alert App, and to recruit talent that meets the demands for digital services stemming from COVID-19 and other government priorities.
Personal Protective Equipment and Medical Equipment
The Government of Canada has committed over $7.6 billion to rapidly procure more than two billion pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE). Canada continues to aggressively procure vital supplies to keep our nurses, our doctors and frontline health care workers well-equipped and to keep all Canadians safe in the months and years ahead. This funding is in addition to the $3 billion for PPE procurement provided directly to provinces and territories through the Safe Restart Agreement.
Proposed measures
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$1.5 billion to continue to procure PPE and provide warehousing and logistics support to rapidly deliver critical PPE and medical supplies to provinces, territories, and Indigenous communities, as well as to maintain the readiness of the National Emergency Strategic Stockpile.
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Proposing to remove the Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax (GST/HST) from purchases of face masks and face shields, making these important items more affordable.
Helping Vulnerable Canadians and Improving Public Health
COVID-19 is having the worst impact on our most vulnerable and those already facing greater health inequities. Fighting COVID-19 requires a complex and multi-faceted public health response. It needs a focus not only on physical health but on mental health, our physical environments, and in ensuring supports are available for those who are more vulnerable to the virus.
Proposed investments
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$93 million in 2020-21 towards mental health, which includes $50 million to bolster distress centres and $43 million to provide further support for the Wellness Together Canada portal.
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$66 million over two years, starting in 2020-2021, to address the opioid crisis and support community-based organizations responding to substance use issues, including to help them provide frontline services in a COVID-19 context.
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$299.4 million in 2021-22 through Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy, to prevent the spread of COVID 19 in shelters.
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$35 million in 2020-21 to continue supporting the Canadian Red Cross’s efforts to respond to COVID-19 and other emergencies.
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$150 million over two years, starting in 2021-22, to support the Canadian Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations in building and maintaining a humanitarian workforce to provide surge capacity in response to COVID-19 outbreaks and other large-scale emergencies.
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$150 million over three years, starting in 2020-21, to improve ventilation in public buildings to help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Protecting People in Long-term Care
The devastating COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes have highlighted the gaps in standards and care for our most vulnerable. Tragically, a large majority of COVID-19 deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities and seniors residences. In the spring, the women and men of the Canadian Armed Forces were deployed to 54 affected long-term care facilities across Quebec and Ontario.
Through the Safe Restart Agreement, the federal government invested $740 million to help provinces and territories address immediate needs of vulnerable populations, including those in long-term care. The federal government has helped provinces and territories to fight the outbreaks in long-term care facilities by providing PPE, contact tracing and over $39 million in funding for direct assistance through the Canadian Red Cross.
New National Standards
Our seniors deserve to be safe, respected, and live in dignity. In order make sure our seniors and those in care live in safe and dignified conditions, the federal government will work with provinces and territories to set new, national standards for long-term care.
Proposed investments
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Up to $1 billion to establish a Safe Long-term Care Fund to help provinces and territories protect people in long-term care and support infection prevention and control.
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$6.4 million over two years, starting in 2020-21, to the Canadian Foundation for Health Improvement to expand its LTC+ initiative, which allows long-term care facilities and seniors residences to register via an online portal and submit a self-assessment of eligibility for coaching and seed funding to help address gaps.
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$1 million to engage with third parties to help identify resources to conduct readiness assessments in long-term care facilities and facilitate training on infection prevention and control.
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$2.4 million over three years to expand Health Canada’s capacity to support these initiatives and undertake policy work related to commitments made in the Speech from the Throne.
Supporting the Health Response in Indigenous and Northern Communities
Indigenous and Northern communities have worked diligently to control the spread of the virus in their communities. The government recognizes that Indigenous and northern communities face unique challenges in responding to the pandemic including a higher incidence of pre-existing health vulnerabilities, difficulties in accessing healthy food and health services, and overcrowded living conditions that make it difficult to physically distance.
Proposed investments
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$631.6 million over two years, starting in 2020-21 in additional support for the ongoing public health response to COVID-19 in Indigenous communities, bringing the total COVID-19 emergency health funding to $926.7 million.
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$186.8 million over two years, starting in 2020-21 to address needs and gaps in supportive care facilities and provide additional home care in Indigenous communities.
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$380 million for the Indigenous Community Support Fund to help ensure that the needs of Indigenous communities will continue to be met during the second wave, bringing total investments towards the fund to over $1 billion since the beginning of the pandemic.
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$64.7 million in 2021-22 in direct support to the governments of Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut in further support of territorial COVID-19 pandemic responses.
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