Thursday, May 29, 2025
No Result
View All Result
  • Media
Support Us
Macdonald-Laurier Institute
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy
      • Economic Policy
      • Justice
      • Rights and Freedoms
      • Assisted Suicide (MAID)
      • Health Care
      • COVID-19
      • Gender Identity
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • AI, Technology and Innovation
      • Media and Telecoms
      • Housing
      • Immigration
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Competition Policy
    • Energy Policy
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy
      • Israel-Hamas War
      • Ukraine
      • Taiwan
      • China
      • Europe and Russia
      • Indo-Pacific
      • Middle East and North Africa
      • North America
      • Foreign Interference
      • National Defence
      • National Security
      • Foreign Affairs
    • Indigenous Affairs
  • Projects
    • CNAPS (Center for North American Prosperity and Security)
    • The Promised Land
    • Voices that Inspire: The Macdonald-Laurier Vancouver Speaker Series
    • Dragon at the Door
    • Canada on top of the world
    • Justice Report Card
    • The Great Energy Crisis
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • Double Trouble
    • Digital Policy & Connectivity
    • Managing Indigenous Prosperity
    • Defending The Marketplace of Ideas
    • Reforming the University
    • Past Projects
      • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
      • The Transatlantic Program
      • COVID Misery Index
        • Provincial COVID Misery Index
        • Beyond Lockdown
        • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
      • Speak for Ourselves
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
      • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
      • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
      • Straight Talk
      • Labour Market Report
      • Leading Economic Indicator
      • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
        • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Inside Policy
  • Libraries
    • Columns
    • Commentary
    • Papers
    • Books
    • Video
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy
      • Economic Policy
      • Justice
      • Rights and Freedoms
      • Assisted Suicide (MAID)
      • Health Care
      • COVID-19
      • Gender Identity
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • AI, Technology and Innovation
      • Media and Telecoms
      • Housing
      • Immigration
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Competition Policy
    • Energy Policy
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy
      • Israel-Hamas War
      • Ukraine
      • Taiwan
      • China
      • Europe and Russia
      • Indo-Pacific
      • Middle East and North Africa
      • North America
      • Foreign Interference
      • National Defence
      • National Security
      • Foreign Affairs
    • Indigenous Affairs
  • Projects
    • CNAPS (Center for North American Prosperity and Security)
    • The Promised Land
    • Voices that Inspire: The Macdonald-Laurier Vancouver Speaker Series
    • Dragon at the Door
    • Canada on top of the world
    • Justice Report Card
    • The Great Energy Crisis
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • Double Trouble
    • Digital Policy & Connectivity
    • Managing Indigenous Prosperity
    • Defending The Marketplace of Ideas
    • Reforming the University
    • Past Projects
      • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
      • The Transatlantic Program
      • COVID Misery Index
        • Provincial COVID Misery Index
        • Beyond Lockdown
        • COVID and after: A mandate for recovery
      • Speak for Ourselves
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
      • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
      • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
      • Straight Talk
      • Labour Market Report
      • Leading Economic Indicator
      • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
        • Aboriginal Canada and Natural Resources
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Inside Policy
  • Libraries
    • Columns
    • Commentary
    • Papers
    • Books
    • Video
No Result
View All Result
Macdonald-Laurier Institute

We need to talk more about funding seniors’ health care: Speer in Toronto Sun

December 19, 2017
in Domestic Policy, Latest News, Columns, In the Media, Economic Policy, Health, Sean Speer
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A

Sean Speer, US deficit, deficit reductionThe 2016 Census showed that seniors outnumbered children for the first time in Canada’s history. This trend is only going to continue and it’s up to our policymakers to recognize the stakes and respond writes Munk Senior Fellow Sean Speer in the Toronto Sun.

By Sean Speer, Dec. 15, 2017

This past week’s annual meeting between the federal, provincial, and territorial finance ministers was mostly animated by an inter-jurisdictional squabble about who should get the impending marijuana revenues. This debate about weed monies certainly received a lot of media and political attention.

But it’s a rounding error. It amounts to about one-tenth of 1% of total provincial tax revenues. If the tensions seemed high, it’s only because the stakes are so low.

Instead ministers should have focused on Canada’s aging demographics and their inexorable effects on the future of health care. This is far from a rounding error. It has the potential to do real damage to provincial and territorial budgets. The only question is whether policymakers do something before it’s too late.

The source of this demographic pressure is two separate, yet linked, trends.

The first is that older citizens disproportionately consume health care services. Nearly one of every two health-care dollars is spent on those aged 65 and older. This is intuitive. We need more care, services, and treatment (including pharmaceuticals) as we get older, frailer, and sicker.

The second is that this age cohort is the fastest-growing population in the country. Its share of the population is presently 16.9%. It could reach one-quarter by the mid-2030s.

One way to think of it is this: old people consume more health care and Canada’s demographic patterns will produce more old people. The confluence of these two forces will place a significant burden on provincial and territorial health-care spending and their attendant fiscal capacities for the foreseeable future.

The budgetary results are predictable. Provincial and territorial spending on health care is already nearly 40% of total expenditures. This will continue climbing. No province is immune. Eventually health-care spending will crowd out other public priorities and lead to higher taxes, more debt, or both.

Carleton University economist Frances Wooley calls it a “slow-motion train wreck.”

She’s not wrong, especially as our politicians fight over trivial matters. The provincial share of pot revenues will pay for less than one day of provincial and territorial health-care spending.

Ministers must realize that inaction (or distraction) amounts to a choice. The result is fiscal unsustainability as the Macdonald-Laurier Institute has warned in a new study. There’s no way of getting around it. Even slow-motion trains ultimately collide.

There are various steps that Canadian governments can take to mitigate these long-term risks. One is to reform health-care financing and delivery to enable patient cost-sharing and more competition. Another is to provide greater incentives to encourage the usage of Health Savings Accounts. A major inter-jurisdictional response could involve modernizing the tax and spending roles of the federal and provincial governments to enhance accountability and exclusivity. There are no doubt countless others.

But the point is that these are the debates that we ought to be having. We can’t afford to wait much longer. The 2016 Census showed that seniors outnumbered children for the first time in Canada’s history. This trend is only going to continue. It’s up to our policymakers to recognize the stakes and respond with proportionate solutions. It’s time to move on from the weed.

Sean Speer is a Munk Senior Fellow and co-author of the new paper, Running out of Time: Demographic Pressures and the Future of Canadian Health Care.

Tags: Canadahealth careSean Speer

Related Posts

Moving the needle: How “safe supply” became Canada’s answer to the opioid crisis, why it failed, and how we can do better
Health

Moving the needle: How “safe supply” became Canada’s answer to the opioid crisis, why it failed, and how we can do better

May 29, 2025
Why Britain must look towards the ‘Great Dominion’: Matthew Bondy in CapX
Foreign Affairs

Why Britain must look towards the ‘Great Dominion’: Matthew Bondy in CapX

May 28, 2025
(Im)balance of power – How federal overreach fuels Western Alienation: Sonya Savage and Heather Exner-Pirot
Intergovernmental Affairs

(Im)balance of power – How federal overreach fuels Western Alienation: Sonya Savage and Heather Exner-Pirot

May 28, 2025
Next Post
Nazareth talks temporary foreign workers on 1310 News

The Future of Canadian Health: Speer on CJME/CKOM

Newsletter Signup

  Thank you for Signing Up
  Please correct the marked field(s) below.
Email Address  *
1,true,6,Contact Email,2
First Name *
1,true,1,First Name,2
Last Name *
1,true,1,Last Name,2
*
*Required Fields

Follow us on

Macdonald-Laurier Institute

323 Chapel Street, Suite #300
Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 7Z2 Canada

613.482.8327

info@macdonaldlaurier.ca
MLI directory

Support Us

Support the Macdonald-Laurier Institute to help ensure that Canada is one of the best governed countries in the world. Click below to learn more or become a sponsor.

Support Us

  • Inside Policy Magazine
  • Annual Reports
  • Jobs
  • Privacy Policy

© 2023 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About
    • Who We Are
    • Who Makes MLI Work
    • Tenth Anniversary
  • Experts
    • Experts Directory
    • In Memoriam
  • Issues
    • Domestic Policy
      • Economic Policy
      • Justice
      • Rights and Freedoms
      • Assisted Suicide (MAID)
      • Health Care
      • COVID-19
      • Gender Identity
      • Canada’s Political Tradition
      • AI, Technology and Innovation
      • Media and Telecoms
      • Housing
      • Immigration
      • Agriculture and Agri-Food
      • Competition Policy
    • Energy Policy
      • Energy
      • Environment
    • Foreign Policy
      • Israel-Hamas War
      • Ukraine
      • Taiwan
      • China
      • Europe and Russia
      • Indo-Pacific
      • Middle East and North Africa
      • North America
      • Foreign Interference
      • National Defence
      • National Security
      • Foreign Affairs
    • Indigenous Affairs
  • Projects
    • CNAPS (Center for North American Prosperity and Security)
    • The Promised Land
    • Voices that Inspire: The Macdonald-Laurier Vancouver Speaker Series
    • Dragon at the Door
    • Canada on top of the world
    • Justice Report Card
    • The Great Energy Crisis
    • DisInfoWatch.org
    • Double Trouble
    • Digital Policy & Connectivity
    • Managing Indigenous Prosperity
    • Defending The Marketplace of Ideas
    • Reforming the University
    • Past Projects
      • Canada and the Indo-Pacific Initiative
      • The Transatlantic Program
      • COVID Misery Index
      • Speak for Ourselves
      • The Eavesdropping Dragon: Huawei
      • Talkin’ in the Free World with Mariam Memarsadeghi
      • An Intellectual Property Strategy for Canada
      • Munk Senior Fellows
      • A Mandate for Canada
      • Confederation Series
      • Fiscal Reform
      • The Canadian Century project
      • Fixing Canadian health care
      • Internal trade
      • From a mandate for change
      • Size of government in Canada
      • Straight Talk
      • Labour Market Report
      • Leading Economic Indicator
      • Centre for Advancing Canada’s Interests Abroad
      • Indigenous Prosperity at a Crossroads
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
      • MLI Dinners
      • Great Canadian Debates
  • Latest News
  • Inside Policy
  • Libraries
    • Columns
    • Commentary
    • Papers
    • Books
    • Video

© 2023 Macdonald-Laurier Institute. All Rights reserved.

Lightbox image placeholder

Previous Slide

Next Slide

Share

Facebook ShareTwitter ShareLinkedin SharePinterest ShareEmail Share

TwitterTwitter
Hide Tweet (admin)

Add this ID to the plugin's Hide Specific Tweets setting: