Ministers of health for the Government of Canada and the Government of Alberta signed a historic agreement for the province on Thursday, with the goal of providing $1 billion for health care in Alberta over the next three years.

Ministers Mark Holland and Adriana LaGrange signed the bi-lateral agreement at the Arthur JE Child Cancer Centre at the Foothills Medical Complex in Calgary on Thursday, marking the third such agreement made between the federal government and the provinces following B.C. and P.E.I.

The agreement provides $285 million per year to provide support for Alberta’s three-year plan to improve access to and the quality of health care in the province, in addition to $70 million per year in previously announced funding for mental health and addictions treatment.

Minister Holland spoke directly to the spirit that the nation felt in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic to work together to find common solutions to solving a major crisis, as the spirit behind the bi-lateral agreement.

“The impact of the pandemic has left us with a many different problems. We know that one of three Canadians are suffering in terms of their mental health, and when I mentioned those backlogs and challenges to access to health care what we need to address, in which today is part of, but there was a moment I think in the pandemic when all of us were pulling in the same direction. Where jurisdiction ego partisanship was all set aside and we had one simple question. How do we help Canadians?” Minister Holland said.

“There’s lots of things to disagree with, that’s easy in this world. How do we find common ground? How do we find solutions? How do we work together to get things done? I think today is an important example of what is possible when we focus on what we can do together.”

Funding to address multiple healthcare concerns in Alberta

The funding will go towards providing increased access to primary care providers including for underserved and Indigenous Albertans, increased community-level diagnostic imaging capacity, increased patient access to digital health care services including e-referral services, reducing median wait times for mental health and addiction programs, and improving safe culturally appropriate Indigenous and Metis care in the province.

As part of the agreement with the federal government, the province of Alberta will be improving how healthcare information is collected, shared, and used for national health.

“Some of this new funding from the federal government will also contribute to ongoing improvements to data infrastructure and sharing so healthcare teams can securely work together to optimize patient care. Integrating primary health care services through data is particularly important for those living in rural and remote parts of the province,” said Minister LaGrange.

She said that the bilateral agreement would work towards helping the province solve some of its healthcare challenges, but took the opportunity to press for a larger increase to the Canada Health Transfer funding provinces receive.

“We remain hopeful that a meaningful and permanent increase to the Canada Health Transfer will happen there are significant issues facing the delivery of health care, not just in Alberta, but right across the country,” Minister LaGrange said.

“With more sustainable, predictable funding, we can optimize the opportunities for healthcare improvement.”

Three down, 26 to go

Funding for the agreement was made under the federal government’s $25 billion Working Together to Improve Health Care in Canada plan (WTIHCC), which aims to complete 26 separate agreements on health care and aging dignity for Canadians.

“There’s a lot of work on talking about shared priorities and getting to a point of having an agreement, and then there are logistical challenges of of scheduling the opportunity to come and be in different parts of the country,” said Minister Holland.

“Adriana and I have been working through the details of a plan for a long time to get to a place where we’re both on the same page and where we think that we’ve got the plan that works.”

The Working Together plan also includes a 5 per cent increase to Canada Health Transfer funding, which the federal government has said is guaranteed for the next five years. The total increase is projected to be nearly $12 billion across Canada.

Annual public updates on the improvement of health care are also a component of the agreement between the federal government and Alberta.

Eight common indicators will be used, in conjunction with the Canadian Institute for Health Information, to allow for comparisons within provinces and territories, between areas of the country, and internationally on how Canada is performing in health care improvement.

Minister Holland said there would be further announcements on the Canadian dental plan, and other healthcare priorities in the new year.