On Tuesday, April 16, the federal government released its 2024 budget, entitled “Fairness for Every Generation”. This budget is mainly targeted at the persistent increased cost of living that impacts every Canadian and housing affordability. That said, advocacy from Canada’s Parkinson’s community and other patient advocacy organizations were noticeable throughout the budget.  

The following are some of the announcements made in the budget that Parkinson Canada believes are positive developments and will contribute to future advocacy efforts: 

• Pharmacare Funding – Pharmacare has been at the centre of our advocacy this year and we are encouraged to see $1.5 billion over five years announced to support the launch of pharmacare. This funding, and the legislation, opens the door for more conversations around improving access to medications, including those that are critical to the Parkinson’s community. 
• Canada Disability Benefit – The Canada Disability Benefit (CDB) has been a long time coming. Budget 2024 has announced that the federal government will devote $6.1 billion over six years beginning in 2024-25, and $1.4 billion per year ongoing to the CDB. This will work out to around $2,400 per year for an individual. Payments to eligible Canadians will start in July 2025. We will continue to advocate to ensure the benefit meets the needs of and is accessible to the Parkinson’s community.  
• Support for Caregivers – Caregivers provide invaluable support for those living with Parkinson’s and they have always been on our minds while advocating. That is why we are so excited to see that the federal government has announced they will launch consultations to create a National Caregiving Strategy. Parkinson Canada is a partner of the Canadian Centre for Caregiving Excellence, a driving force behind a National Caregiving Strategy and we are eager to contribute to the strategy’s development. 
• Health Research – Research is a core pillar of Parkinson Canada’s mission and values, and we are encouraged to see more funding for health science research and a renewed commitment to encourage innovation in Canada’s science field. In particular, the Brain Canada Foundation, a national convenor and enabler of the Canadian brain research community and partner of Parkinson Canada will receive $80 million over four years to support research and discoveries in brain health. 
• More Doctors –We know that access to doctors, especially movement disorder specialists, can be challenging. So it is encouraging to see the federal government invest $77.1 million over four years, starting in 2025-26, to more effectively integrate internationally educated health care professionals into Canada’s health workforce by creating 120 specific training positions, increasing assessment capacity, and providing support to navigate credential recognition systems. Access to care is a key priority for the Parkinson’s community and Parkinson Canada. We look forward to continuing our work with all levels of government to ensure Canadians suspected of and living with Parkinson’s have timely access to diagnosis and high-quality Parkinson’s-informed care.  

Other Investments 

• Long-Term Care: The government will introduce a Safe Long Term Care Act to support new national long-term care standards in an effort to help ensure safe, reliable and high-quality care, and improve infection prevention and control practices. 
• Ensuring access to essential drugs and medical devices: $3.2 million over three years to upgrade Health Canada’s supply management capacity for drugs and medical devices. This is to mitigate the effects of health product shortages and expedite emergency responses when supply chains fail.  
• More rural health and social service workers: The government will make amendments to the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act and the Canadian Student Loans Act to permanently expand the reach of Canada Student Loan Forgiveness Program to more health care and social service professionals working in rural and remote communities. This includes dentists, dental hygienists, pharmacist, midwives, teachers, social workers, personal support workers, physiotherapists, and psychologists.  

These are encouraging steps that we see within the latest budget and ones that we know our collective voice has helped influence. Parkinson Canada will continue to work closely with the federal government to ensure that these measures are acted upon and improved in the coming years.