Canada Health Act Legal Challenge September 29, 2004

The Council of Canadians has been informed that a decision in our Federal Court challenge to the Canada Health Act was rendered on September 29, 2004.

Click here to download the decision in PDF format.

Unions Challenge Health Minister to Enforce Canada Health Act

On May 5, 2003 the: Canadian Union of Public Employees; Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada; Canadian Health Coalition; Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions; and the Council of Canadians filed an application in the Federal Court of Canada seeking declarations that the Health Minister was failing to live up to her obligations under the Canada Health Act and an order from the court requiring her to do so.

At issue are the Minister’s obligations to monitor and enforce the Act, and to report annually to Parliament about the extent to which provincial health care insurance plans are in compliance with the criteria of the act. These guarantee that all insured persons will have universal access to the hospital and physician services they require, and which will be entirely paid for by provincial health care insurance plans that are publicly administered and operate on a not-for-profit basis.

At the center of the case are the two key accountability mechanisms of the Canada Health Act. The Romanow Commission stressed the need to strengthen accountability for the $100 billion in public health care spending each year, if public confidence in the Medicare model was to be sustained. While this goal is commendable, the groups’ application asserts that key accountability mechanisms already part of the legal framework have been routinely and systematically ignored by Federal Ministers of Health.

Read more about the Canada Health Act legal challenge (PDF):

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