Are election campaigns taking health, wellbeing into account?

Nova Scotia's provincial election in August certainly seems to have caught the attention of the federal parties now vying for our votes in the upcoming federal election. All parties, in one way or another, seem to want to bolster Canada's ailing health-care system — privatized services, increased investment in the Canada Health Transfer, and a new pharmacare program are on offer from the Conservatives, Liberals and NDP, respectively.

But is the focus on health care enough to significantly improve population health outcomes?

Premier Tim Houston's promise to invest in the rejuvenation of Nova Scotia's health-care system will hopefully result in improvements, but if our new provincial government and the parties competing in the federal election want to address the health of all Canadians, they should pay equal, if not more, attention to the impacts of low-waged work, inadequate working conditions, poverty and all forms of discrimination (based on race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and (dis) abilities) on people's health and wellbeing, including their mental health.

This means all levels of government must take more seriously the social determinants of health (SDOH) and work towards the implementation of Sdoh-based health equity approaches in the broader range of policies and programs that could provide better health and wellbeing outcomes for everyone — for example, in the health-care system itself, but also in housing, education, job development, employment, the justice system and, very importantly, in income security and the provision of social services.

As the pandemic, our growing housing crisis, and those serving people living in poverty and the homeless keep telling us, it's not only more bricks and mortar that is required to address the problems of poverty, housing affordability and homelessness, it is also better wages and working conditions, better public housing and tenancy regulations and more investment in a range of social services, including prevention, harm reduction, and wrap around programs and services.

To be sure, a $15 minimum wage (within the provincial government's purview if they chose to implement it), the recent federal-provincial agreement for $10 a day childcare, the NDP'S proposal for national pharmacare along with better job development and training programs with accessibility provisions built in, would likely go a long way. Not only to reduce poverty and improve conditions for the working poor, but to encourage some who are currently living way below Canada's official poverty line on income assistance to seek and maintain employment.

It's all very well for Justin Trudeau to propose an increase in federal investment under the Canada Health Transfer (CHT), but more is required. Whichever political party forms government after Sept. 20, if they want to ensure health equity for all, they must also increase federal investment in affordable and accessible housing, in ending homelessness, and in the Canada Social Transfer (CST) — the poor cousin within our federal transfer system — as well as ensure a designated amount for provision of social services, along with more adequate transparency and accountability for spending, and its effectiveness, than is currently the case.