Minister Sajjan highlights budget investments to strengthen public health care

April 13, 2023

Calgary, Alberta

Global Affairs Canada

Today the Honourable Harjit S. Sajjan, Minister of International Development and Minister responsible for the Pacific Economic Development Agency of Canada, met with stakeholders in Calgary to highlight Budget 2023’s investments in public health care.

Canada has made a remarkable recovery from the COVID recession. Canada’s economic growth was the strongest in the G7 over the last year, and today, 830,000 more Canadians are employed than before the pandemic, including 128,600 here in Alberta. Inflation in Canada has fallen for 8 months in a row, our unemployment rate is near a record low and, supported by our Canada-wide system of affordable early learning and child care, the labour force participation rate for women aged 25 to 54 reached a record high of 85.7% in February.

Budget 2023 builds on this important progress.

To make life more affordable, Budget 2023 delivers the new Grocery Rebate, offering targeted inflation relief for 11 million Canadians and families who need it most with up to an additional $467 for eligible couples with children, an additional $234 for single Canadians without children and, on average, an additional $225 for seniors. The government is also taking action to crack down on junk fees and predatory lending, to lower credit card transaction fees for small businesses and to help Canadians keep more money in their pockets.

To strengthen Canada’s universal public health care system, the budget delivers $198.3 billion—including $25.096 billion here in Alberta—to reduce backlogs, expand access to family health services and ensure provinces and territories can provide the high-quality and timely health care Canadians expect and deserve. Budget 2023 also introduces the Canadian Dental Care Plan to help up to 9 million Canadians and ensure no Canadian has to choose between taking care of their health and paying the bills at the end of the month.

To build Canada’s clean economy, the budget makes transformative investments to fight climate change and create new opportunities for Canadian businesses and workers. These include significant measures that will deliver cleaner and more affordable energy, support investment in communities and create good-paying jobs.

With a responsible fiscal plan that will see Canada maintain the lowest deficit and the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio in the G7, Budget 2023 will help to build a Canada that is more secure, more sustainable and more affordable for people from coast to coast to coast.