Bill C-39

53-54 ELIZABETH II

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CHAPTER 11

An Act to amend the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act and to enact An Act respecting the provision of funding for diagnostic and medical equipment

[Assented to 23rd March, 2005]

Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:

FEDERAL-PROVINCIAL FISCAL ARRANGEMENTS ACT

1. The headings before section 24 of the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act are replaced by the following:

PART V.1

CANADA HEALTH TRANSFER, CANADA SOCIAL TRANSFER, HEALTH REFORM TRANSFER AND WAIT TIMES REDUCTION TRANSFER

Canada Health Transfer

2. The portion of section 24 of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:

24. Subject to this Part and for the purpose of giving effect to the 2003 First Ministers’ Accord on Health Care Renewal and the 2004 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care, a Canada Health Transfer in the amounts referred to in subsection 24.1(1) is to be provided to the provinces for the purposes of

3. (1) Paragraph 24.1(1)(a) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(a) a cash contribution equal to

(i) $12.65 billion for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2004,

(ii) $1 billion for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2004,

(iii) $19 billion for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2005, and

(iv) the product obtained by multiplying the cash contribution for the immediately preceding year by 1.06, rounded to the nearest thousand, for each fiscal year in the period beginning on April 1, 2006 and ending on March 31, 2014; and

(2) Section 24.1 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (2):

(3) The cash contribution referred to in subparagraph (1)(a)(ii) is not subject to subparagraphs 4(1)(a)(i) to (iii) of the Canada Health Transfer and Canada Social Transfer Regulations.

4. Subsection 24.6(2) of the Act is amended by adding the word “and” at the end of paragraph (a) and by repealing paragraphs (c) to (e).

5. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 24.6:

Wait Times Reduction Transfer

24.61 Subject to this Part, a Wait Times Reduction Transfer is established under section 24.62 to provide funding for the purposes of assisting the provinces to reduce wait times according to their respective priorities, including training and hiring more health professionals, clearing backlogs, building capacity for regional centres of excellence, expanding appropriate ambulatory and community care programs and expanding tools to manage wait times, as outlined in the 2004 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care.

24.62 The Wait Times Reduction Transfer shall consist of

(a) the cash contribution referred to in subsection 24.63(1); and

(b) the cash contributions referred to in subsection 24.64(1).

24.63 (1) The Minister may pay $4.25 billion to a trust established to provide the provinces with funding for the purposes referred to in section 24.61.

(2) The amount that may be provided to a province by the trust is to be determined in accordance with the terms of the trust indenture establishing the trust.

(3) Notwithstanding section 24.8, the amount payable under subsection (1) may be paid by the Minister to the trust out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the times and in the manner that the Minister considers appropriate.

24.64 (1) For the purposes referred to in section 24.61, the Minister may make cash contributions to the provinces equal to $250 million for each fiscal year in the period beginning on April 1, 2009 and ending on March 31, 2014.

(2) The amount that may be paid to a province for each of the fiscal years mentioned in subsection (1) is the amount determined by multiplying the amount set out for that fiscal year by the quotient obtained by dividing

(a) the population of the province for the fiscal year

by

(b) the total of the population of all provinces for the fiscal year.

6. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 25.8:

Parliamentary Review

25.9 (1) Parliament having authorized the appropriation of money for the Canada Health Transfer and the Wait Times Reduction Transfer for the purpose of giving effect to the 2004 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care, a review of the progress in implementing that Plan shall be undertaken by such committee of the Senate, of the House of Commons or of both Houses of Parliament as may be designated or established, using the reports referred to in the Plan. The committee shall undertake the review on or before March 31, 2008 and three years thereafter.

(2) The committee shall, within three months after beginning the review or within such further time as the Senate, the House of Commons or both Houses of Parliament, as the case may be, may authorize, submit a report on the result of that review to that House or both Houses.

Communiqués

25.91 For greater certainty and for the purposes of this Part (V.1), the 2004 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care includes the communiqués released in respect of the First Ministers’ Meeting on the Future of Health Care that was held from September 13 to 15, 2004.

AN ACT RESPECTING THE PROVISION OF FUNDING FOR DIAGNOSTIC AND MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

7. An Act respecting the provision of funding for diagnostic and medical equipment is enacted as follows:

An Act respecting the provision of funding for diagnostic and medical equipment

1. (1) For the purpose of giving effect to the 2004 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care, the Minister of Finance may, for the fiscal year beginning on April 1, 2004, make direct payments, in an aggregate of $500 million, to the provinces for the purposes of acquiring diagnostic and medical equipment and related specialized staff training in order to improve access to and reduce wait times for publicly funded diagnostic and treatment services.

(2) The amount payable to a province for the fiscal year shall be determined by multiplying the amount referred to in subsection (1) by the quotient obtained by dividing

(a) the population of the province for the fiscal year

by

(b) the total population of all provinces for the fiscal year.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, the population of a province for the fiscal year shall be determined by the Chief Statistician of Canada on the basis of Statistics Canada’s official estimate of the population of that province on June 1, 2004.

(4) Any amount payable under this Act may be paid by the Minister out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund at the times and in the manner that the Minister considers appropriate.

2. For greater certainty and for the purposes of this Act, the 2004 10-Year Plan to Strengthen Health Care includes the communiqués released in respect of the First Ministers’ Meeting on the Future of Health Care that was held from September 13 to 15, 2004.