The stress placed on our public health care system has been clear through the pandemic. We also have seen the impact on our doctors and nurses, long term care workers and those working on the frontlines to keep us safe. Years of cuts and neglect by Liberal and Conservative governments brought the health care system to the brink of collapse – and resulted in catastrophic loss of life in long term care.

When our loved ones fall ill, we shouldn’t worry about whether they can afford to get the care they need. This principle is at the heart of New Democrats’ unwavering commitment to public health care. Universal access to public health care is one of the proudest achievements of New Democrats. And in the decades since Tommy Douglas brought Medicare to Saskatchewan and expanded it across the entire country, public health care has saved us money and become a defining Canadian value for so many of us.

But today, too many of the health care services we need – like access to prescription medications – fall outside Medicare, leaving families facing huge out-of-pocket costs. Meanwhile, powerful people and companies who oppose public health care are continuing to quietly push for privatization, threatening what we’ve built together. And, for years, Liberal and Conservative governments have cut health care transfers and refused to expand access to care, making things worse.

Families are spending time and money they can’t afford or they are sacrificing other things to pay for needed health care. Or they are getting sicker unnecessarily because they can’t afford or find the right care at the right time.

It’s not just a crisis for individuals, it’s a crisis for all of us.

New Democrats are the party that will change that. We are committed to strengthening public health care – and expanding it to make sure everyone is covered for the care they need to get and stay healthier longer.

After decades of promises, the Liberals have once again failed to make sure every Canadian can afford the medications they need. That’s why New Democrats are fighting for a national, universal, public pharmacare program to make sure that all Canadians can access the prescription medicine they need with their health card, not their credit card – saving money and improving health outcomes for everyone. These programs will also free up resources to tackle emerging threats to public health, like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under our system, everyone should have access to quality health care no matter where they live. But too often, Canadians are getting different care depending on their province of residence – a problem made worse by a lack of federal leadership under successive Liberal and Conservative governments. New Democrats believe that the federal government has a critical role to play in upholding and enforcing the Canada Health Act, especially against the creeping threat of privatization and user fees. We will also act immediately to prevent the sale of blood products, and to make sure that people can access safe abortion services in all regions.

A New Democrat government will work with the provinces and territories to tackle wait times and improve access to primary care across the country – and we’ll work with the provinces to develop public infrastructure for secure, accessible virtual healthcare. We will identify coming gaps in health human resources and make a plan to recruit and retain the doctors, nurses and other health professionals Canadians need. New Democrats will also work with the provinces and territories to expand and improve access to palliative care across the country.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed serious weaknesses in Canada’s pandemic preparedness and response capacities. New Democrats will strengthen these systems so that Canada is never again unprepared and left behind in a global pandemic. We believe the government should immediately take a leadership role in a federal vaccination strategy to ensure all Canadians can be vaccinated. Moving forward, we’ll provide stable, long-term funding for the Public Health Agency of Canada so they can protect public health and be ready with surge capacity in the event of a crisis.

Canada needs to have the capacity to produce vaccines for public health emergences, a capacity that we lost under Liberal and Conservative governments. New Democrats will establish a crown corporation charged with domestic vaccine production so that Canadians are never again at the back of the line.

To protect medical personnel, patients and essential workers, we’ll ensure that Canada maintains an adequate and responsibly-managed stockpile of personal protective equipment, with an emphasis on supporting domestic production.

During a crisis, it’s more important than ever that Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer be able to speak freely about public health issues to Canadians without the fear of political retribution. We’ll ensure that their independence is protected by law, and require the Chief Public Health Officer to report to parliament annually about recommendations to improve Canada’s public health emergency preparedness.

Finally, Canada is a leader in innovative health research, a field that is more important than ever. We will work with universities and health professionals to make sure that public research on critical health issues continues to flourish. New Democrats will reverse the Liberals’ reckless move to weaken the Global Public Health Intelligence Network, which provides surveillance and early warnings that are critical for managing international public health emergencies like pandemics. The federal government must also step up and regulate natural health products under stand-alone legislation.

Canada’s health care system today reflects the health care needs of the 1950s. Back then, New Democrats boldly transformed the health care system by guaranteeing that Canadians who needed to see their doctor or go to a hospital would not be faced by bills they couldn’t pay.

A decade of Conservative neglect has hurt our public health care system and eroded public trust. The Liberal approach – a patchwork of interventions, programs here and there – simply isn’t delivering the results that Canadians need. Too many Canadians, even those with private insurance, just aren’t able to get the help they need.

As it stands, the Canada Health Act is supposed to fund all medically necessary services that Canadians might need. But in reality, there are many kinds of medical services that Canadians need for their health and wellbeing that aren’t covered by public health care plans. As jobs with extended health benefits become harder to find, fewer people will have access to extended healthcare services.

You and your family deserve better. New Democrats believe that over the next decade, Canadians need a historic expansion of the services covered under our national health care system.

One in three Canadians has no dental insurance – and almost seven million people don’t visit the dentist every year because they can’t afford to. Too many people are forced to go without the care they need, until the pain is so severe that they are forced to seek relief in hospital emergency rooms.

We know now that good oral health is a critical component of overall good health – and that means our health care system should cover it, too. A New Democrat government will work together with provincial partners, health professionals and dentists to develop a roadmap to incorporate universal dental care into Canada’s public health care system, and immediately deliver dental care coverage for people who don’t have any private insurance.

There’s a lot more to do to modernize our health system for today’s needs. Mental health support is an enormous unmet need across the country; over one in five Canadians struggling with mental health challenges who have expressed a need for counselling weren’t able to get it. Eye check-ups are important for preventing vision loss and identifying other health issues – yet many, particularly children and seniors, don’t get regular eye care, or struggle to pay for the glasses that they need to function.

New Democrats believe that we need to work towards health care that covers us from head to toe. COVID-19 took a tremendous toll on Canadians’ mental health. This is especially true for young people who are reporting high levels of depression and anxiety. Mental health care should be available at no cost for people who need it.

As a first step, a New Democrat government would bring in mental health care for uninsured Canadians – ensuring that people with no coverage for mental health services could gain access to these supports without worrying about the cost. Our comprehensive pharmacare plan will also mean that prescription medication for mental health care will now be available free of cost to Canadians. We will work with provinces and territories to build on these initiatives and put in place a truly comprehensive approach to mental health services. And we believe that no new parent should struggle alone – it’s time for a national perinatal mental health strategy to support growing families before and after birth.

Everyone should be able to get eye care and hearing care. Canadians struggling with infertility should also have access to the procedures and care they need, no matter which province or territory they live in.

The long-term path to providing public coverage for these services will require strong federal re-investment in our health system, with the knowledge that investing in preventative health services will ultimately save money and give Canadians the care they need to live healthy, full lives.

Across Canada, seventeen Canadians die every day from opioid-related causes. Tens of thousands of families have tragically lost parents, partners, siblings, and children to the out-of-control opioid crisis. Every part of the country has been impacted by these highly addictive and dangerous drugs, from our busiest downtown neighbourhoods to the most remote communities. And too often, the impacts are even worse for the most vulnerable and marginalized people.

Despite the obvious harm that these drugs are causing and the shocking death toll that they’ve caused, over the last four years the Liberal government failed to mobilize an effective response. They have not declared a public health emergency, nor taken any steps to investigate the role that drug companies may have played in fuelling the crisis. The federal government is lagging behind the urgent action being taken by provinces like British Columbia.

New Democrats believe that there is much more we can do to save lives and support those struggling with opioids. In government, we will declare a public health emergency and commit to working with all levels of government, health experts and Canadians to end the criminalization and stigma of drug addiction, so that people struggling with addiction can get the help they need without fear of arrest, while getting tough on the real criminals - those who traffic in and profit from illegal drugs. We’ll work with the provinces and health professionals to create a safe supply of medically regulated alternatives to toxic street drugs, support overdose prevention sites and expand access to treatment on demand for people struggling with addiction. We will also launch an investigation into the role drug companies may have played in fueling the opioid crisis, and seek meaningful financial compensation from them for the public costs of this crisis.

We believe that every child in Canada should have access to nutritious food – and that no one should have to try to learn on an empty stomach. A recent UNICEF report ranked Canada 37 out of 41 countries in terms of access to nutritious food for children -- and despite the urgency, the Liberal government has failed to improve access to healthy food for kids.

New Democrats will partner with provinces, territories, municipalities and Indigenous communities to work towards a national school nutrition program that will give every child in Canada access to healthy food, and the food literacy skills to make healthy choices for life. We’ll aim to make culturally-appropriate food available to children in every community in Canada, so that all children can grow and learn.

We know that supporting our local food systems is essential to ensuring that Canadians have access to healthy, affordable food. We’ll work to connect Canadians to farmers with initiatives like local food hubs, community supported agriculture, and networks to increase the amount of food that is sold, processed and consumed in local and regional markets.

New Democrats will also work together with farmers and food producers to develop a National Food Policy, making our food systems stronger all across the country – including food labelling and traceability, so that Canadians can be confident in what they’re purchasing to put on their family’s plate. We’ll also work to put in place a food waste strategy to reduce the huge amounts of food that currently go to waste in Canada.

Our government will support Indigenous food sovereignty, working in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities to expand access to healthy food, including traditional and country foods. Working together with northern communities, we’re committed to reforming the Nutrition North program to improve food security for northern families.

Our parents and grandparents built this country. As they age, they deserve to live in comfort and safety. People with disabilities, who may have no independent living options, are often living in long term care homes or other settings with many people and caregivers. Yet because of decades of cuts, under-funding and privatization, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of thousands of Canadians in long-term care homes – the highest proportion in the OECD. Liberal and Conservative governments have failed to invest in the public services that Canadians need, and too many families have paid a tragic price.

Every senior and person with a disability must have access to the care they need, helping them remain in their own homes. Family caregivers deserve more support – and should never have to worry about whether their loved ones are getting good care. And every Canadian, of every age, deserves to live in dignity and be treated with respect by their government and the health care system.

While all provinces and territories fund home care services as part of publicly insured healthcare, there are inconsistent standards -- and when it comes to long-term care, understaffing at residential homes is an ongoing and critical problem across the country. Ongoing staffing shortages make for poor quality care, hamper infection control and also leave health care workers at risk of experiencing workplace violence.

It’s time to work with the provinces and territories to take a new approach to addressing the complex health care needs of our aging population. It’s time to take profit and greed out of the care of our most vulnerable loved ones. It’s time for a government on the side of aging Canadians, their families, and frontline health care workers.

New Democrats believe that families need access to quality home care and long-term care no matter where they live. To that end, we will end private, for-profit long-term care and bring long-term care homes under the public umbrella, beginning with the federally-owned long term care company Revera.

We will work collaboratively with patients, caregivers, and provincial and territorial governments to develop national care standards for home care and long-term care, regulated by the same principles as the Canada Health Act. By doing so, a New Democrat government would legally protect access to home care and long-term care services, and ensure a consistent quality of care across the country.

This process will be backed by funding tied to meeting these standards, and include determining a core basket of home care services that will be available and covered by provincial insurance plans, and setting minimum national care standards for long-term care residents. We will also work with the provinces to develop and support workforce strategies and violence prevention to recruit and protect front-line staff, and ensure a safe working environment for personal support and health care workers.

Better long-term care starts with making sure that the workers providing this care have better wages, stable jobs and health and safety protections. Paying and protecting long term workers will be an essential part of our approach to national standards.

Elevating the quality of care provided in long-term care homes will protect residents and health care professionals, and give families and caregivers peace of mind.

We can do much more to make Canada an inclusive and barrier-free place. As a start, New Democrats will uphold the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and strengthen the Accessibility Act to cover all federal agencies equally, with the power to make and enforce accessibility standards in a timely manner.

To help tackle the unacceptable rate of poverty among Canadians living with a disability and ensure that everyone has the chance to thrive and live in dignity, we will expand income security programs to ensure Canadians living with a disability have a guaranteed livable income. While the Liberal government spends years talking about a new federal disability benefit, New Democrats will get to work immediately to deliver it.

When it comes to employment, everyone deserves a fair shot at a good job that fits their unique abilities. A New Democrat government will continue and expand employment programs to make sure that quality employment opportunities are available to all.

For Canadians facing a serious illness, we’ll make Employment Insurance work better by extending sickness benefits to 50 weeks of coverage, and creating a pilot project to allow workers with episodic disabilities to access benefits as they need them.

Canadians living with disabilities shouldn’t need to worry about the cost of prescription medication, dental work, how to find housing, or how to get their mail. In addition to putting in place a universal, publicly funded national pharmacare and dental care program that will offer full benefits to all Canadians, a New Democrat government will restore door-to-door mail delivery for those who lost it under the Conservatives, and create affordable, accessible housing in communities across the country.

Finally, we will work with Autistic Canadians to develop and implement a national Autism strategy that will coordinate support for research, ensure access to needs-based services, promote employment, and help expand housing options.

Retirement should be a time of new opportunities and new experiences, not worry and stress. We all want to retire with security and maintain our standard of living. And we want to live our retired years with dignity and comfort.

But for more and more Canadians, the prospect of retirement is a cause for anxiety. As costs keep rising and wages don’t keep up, people are struggling to save for retirement during their working years. And many retirees, who paid to have a secure pension, have been let down by governments that protected investors, not pensioners, when big companies went bankrupt. Instead of strengthening support for Canadian workers and retirees, the Liberals have sided with rich corporations to undermine retirement benefits.

New Democrats believe that every Canadian should be able to count on a dignified, secure retirement – and we’ll fight hard to protect pensions that workers have earned. To that end, we will make sure that pensioners are at the front of the line when a company goes bankrupt – making sure unfunded pension liabilities owed to workers, and employees’ severance pay, are the top priority for repayment.

We’ll stop companies from paying out dividends and bonuses when pensions are under-funded, and we’ll create a mandatory, industry-financed pension insurance program to make sure that no worker is deprived of the retirement benefits they’ve earned through no fault of their own.

The federal government has a critical role to play in protecting defined benefit pensions across the country. The Liberal and Conservatives’ openness to target benefit plans in the public sector, which don’t guarantee stable benefits for retirees, puts defined benefits at risk for all Canadians – and we will immediately put a stop to this chipping away of retirement security.

We are committed to strengthening public pensions and improving retirement security for all Canadians and providing a basic guaranteed livable income for seniors. A New Democrat government will create a Pension Advisory Commission to develop a long-term plan to enhance Old Age Security, boost the Guaranteed Income Supplement to lift all seniors out of poverty and strengthen the Canada Pension Plan. We’ll also make automatic enrollment in OAS and GIS retroactive, so no retiree misses out on benefits that they should be receiving, and support efforts to make sure Canadians have good retirement financial literacy.

Everyone deserves to be able to age well, living with dignity as a valued member of the community. But years of Conservative cuts and Liberal inaction are making it harder and harder for seniors to get by. The Conservative government recklessly raised the age of retirement from 65 to 67, with no consultation – and the Liberal government refused to protect workers’ pensions, while dragging their feet on the creation of a real plan to deal with the health challenges faced by Canadian seniors.

As more Canadians enter their senior years, we need to make better choices to be ready to meet their needs and ensure that everyone can age with dignity. With the right leadership, we can make sure that our institutions and public services are strong and prepared – and that every senior has access to the health care and social support they need to make life a little easier.

To deliver these results all across the country, a we will lead a National Seniors Strategy that will work with the provinces, territories and Indigenous governments to make seniors health care a priority, reduce isolation and tackle seniors’ poverty. This will include a funded national dementia strategy, and an elder abuse prevention plan developed with seniors to put an end to abuse and neglect in our communities.

Our national pharmacare for all plan will provide prescription medicine to all seniors, saving seniors hundreds of dollars every year and ensuring that no one needs to choose between medicine and other essentials, and our dental care plan will mean that uninsured seniors can go to the dentist when they need to, without facing costly bills.

Seniors deserve a retirement that’s financially secure and dignified. And no senior should miss out on benefits they qualify for because of a paperwork oversight – but that’s exactly what’s happening to tens of thousands of seniors today. We’ll put in place a one-year delay to help seniors at risk of having their GIS benefits suspended for being unable to make the required income statement.

Many seniors are themselves caregivers to a loved one, or rely on the caregiving of family members. In order to help make life a little more affordable for caregivers, who are overwhelmingly women, we’ll make the Canada Caregiver Tax Credit refundable. This will provide thousands of dollars to the most low-income caregivers, many of whom have given up work completely to care for a loved one.

Every senior should have a safe and affordable place to call home. Our commitment to create half a million affordable housing units in the next decade will include accessible housing that will increase choices for seniors. We’ll also support connection to community and tackle seniors’ isolation by improving seniors’ access to technology and support to stay connected with family, providing more funding for community programs that do outreach to seniors to combat isolation, working with cities to make transit more affordable and convenient, creating more community recreation spaces, and supporting innovative housing solutions like intergenerational co-housing.

Canadian veterans have made untold sacrifices for our country. To honour their service, we need to offer the best care and support possible when they come home.

Unfortunately, for too long, veterans have had to fight for the benefits they’ve earned. For a decade, the Conservative government denied and clawed back benefits, took veterans to court, and cut access to basic care. As Minister of Veteran’s Affairs, Erin O’Toole did nothing to reverse the closure of nine regional offices and the firing of nearly 900 staff that provided services for tens of thousands of veterans across Canada.

While hopes were high that the Liberal government would improve veterans care, after half a decade in power they’ve broken their commitments, failing to improve long wait lists and left billions in money earmarked for veterans care unspent. Years of court cases and broken promises have deepened the disappointment and mistrust that’s felt by many of Canada’s veterans.

It’s time to do right by our veterans.

A New Democrat government will honour the special bond of mutual obligation between Canadians and veterans, and deliver the services that veterans need and deserve. As part of this process, we will work with veterans to design a system that provides fair benefits to all veterans, including equal access to lifetime pensions.

Veterans shouldn’t have to wait weeks or even months or years to receive the services they need. We’ll get rid of backlogs and step up high-quality, personalized service delivery by actually providing one caseworker for every twenty-five veterans, hiring more disability adjudicators to clear the backlog, putting in place automatic approvals for the most common injuries, and improving services that are delivered by phone and online.

There’s also much more that we can do to ease the transition from service for veterans. A New Democrat government will give Canadian Forces members access to care and support before the transition, and make sure that their benefits are in place before they are released from service.

New Democrats know that sometimes a sacrifice abroad means being unable to care for yourself when you return, and we will help support veterans and their families by expanding the caregiver allowance to more people. New Democrats will work with partners in community services and the veterans community to end veteran homelessness for good – because one veteran on the streets is one too many.

To ensure that taxpayer money earmarked for veterans care actually gets spent on it, we will automatically carry forward all annual lapsed spending in Veterans Affairs to improve services. There should never be an incentive for any government to save money on the backs of veterans.

And finally, to hold all governments accountable to the sacred commitments we make to veterans, New Democrats will make the Veterans Ombudsman fully independent so they can report transparently and directly to Canadians.

In 1989, NDP Leader Ed Broadbent rose in the House of Commons to put forward a successful motion to end child poverty in Canada by the year 2000.

More than thirty years after Canada’s pledge, more than a million Canadian children are still living in poverty. Children are still going to school on an empty stomach – and growing up without a place to call home. That’s because successive Liberal and Conservative government have created a patchwork of underfunded supports that still leave millions of Canadians struggling on the margins. The Liberals even brought forward a poverty reduction strategy without a single dollar of new spending – telling Canadians who need help now that they have to wait.

We need the courage – and meaningful action – to build a Canada without poverty, where all Canadians can count on quality public services and community supports to help them lead dignified lives. A core component of our approach is fully implementing the right to housing, and working toward the goal of ending homelessness in Canada within a decade. In a country as wealthy as Canada, there is no excuse to leave any Canadian living in poverty or without a safe roof over their head.

Our affordable housing strategy will include measures to support Canadians at risk of becoming homeless, taking the lead from communities about local needs and adopting a “housing first” approach. To help people find an affordable home in the long term, we will support the creation of more social housing and other affordable options. To deliver help to the most vulnerable right away, we’ll also work with the provinces and municipalities to fast-track the purchase, lease and conversion of hotels and motels for emergency housing relief until more permanent, community-based solutions are available.

Poor health and poverty are linked, and a national pharmacare program will mean that all Canadians can access the prescription medicine they need, regardless of their income or address. Better access to mental health and additions support will also form a key part of our approach to tackling poverty.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen that it is possible for the government to step up and provide basic income to Canadians in difficult circumstances, and that this support can be transformational. That’s why New Democrats will begin work to expand income security programs, beginning with seniors and people living with disabilities, to build towards a future where all individuals residing in Canada have access to a guaranteed livable basic income.

We also know that developing a national, public, universal child care program is critical for lifting women and their families out of poverty, and an important way to give all kids a good start in early learning.

Finally, making sure that all Canadians can access healthy, affordable food is a cornerstone of our Canadian food strategy. A national school nutrition program will make sure that no child enters their classroom hungry. Children should always have access to healthy food – and the ability to concentrate on learning. In addition, New Democrats will ensure that a reformed Nutrition North program is able to better respond to the needs of Northern families, to put an end to chronic food insecurity in the North.