This morning, Federal Minister of Health Hon. Mark Holland and B.C. Minister of Health Hon. Adrian Dix announced $426 million for two bilateral agreements that will enhance wages for personal support workers (PSWs) and improve access to and affordability of drugs for rare diseases. Notably, British Columbia is the first province to sign agreements on these issues with the federal government.
The initial agreement allocates $232 million for the wages of PSWs—or health care assistants (HCAs) as they are referred to in B.C.—over the next five years. This funding aims to assist B.C. in compensating nearly 13,000 full-time equivalent HCAs working in publicly-funded long-term care and assisted living homes. This is an amendment to the Aging with Dignity Agreement that was announced in February 2024. While the Province has already ensured a $29 per hour minimum wage for HCAs, this will go beyond ensuring fair and equitable wages to support other recruitment and retention measures for these workers.
The Working Together to Improve Health Care for Canadians plan, outlined in Budget 2023, included an investment of $1.709 billion over 5 years to increase the wages of PSWs and related professions, and to support other recruitment and retention measures for PSWs. This funding is intended to help ensure these workers have access to fair and equitable working conditions, including improved wages.
The second agreement allocates $194 million over 3 years in funding for rare diseases. In March 2023, the Government of Canada also announced an investment of $1.5 billion over three years to support the National Strategy for Drugs for Rare Diseases, including $1.4 billion for bilateral agreements with provinces and territories to help patients with rare diseases have access to treatments as early as possible, for better quality of life.
BC Care Providers Association applauds this important investment for HCAs to ensure a robust health care workforce for B.C.’s aging population.
Read the official news release on the Government of Canada website here.
