The Federal Department of Health Nears 100

The complex evolution of its activities and functions – including the genesis of the Canada Health Act and different fiscal arrangements with the provinces and territories – has no doubt also contributed to the lack of attention and vision for the federal De- partment of Health. [...] The Federal Department of Health Nears 100: The Origins and Evolution of the Federal Role in Health Care and the Case for Reform? [...] It has three goals: (1) Briefly examine and analyse the legal and constitutional parameters of federal involvement in health care; (2) document the evolution of the federal role in health care including the growth of the federal Department of Health, changes to federal transfers, and its overall role in medicare; and (3) set out recommendations to reform the federal role in Canadian health care in [...] The Royal Commission on Health Services was launched in 1961 by the then-Progressive Conservative government to inquire into and report upon the existing facilities and the future need for health services for the people of Canada and the resources to provide such services, and to recommend such measures, consistent with the constitutional division of legislative powers in Canada, as the Commission [...] Provinces and territories needed to submit detailed reports on their programming and federal officials needed to determine whether a particular pro- gram – for example, a particular home for the elderly – fell inside or outside the terms of the cost- The Federal Department of Health Nears 100: The Origins and Evolution of the Federal Role in Health Care and the Case for Reform?