Canada Spends Logo

Explore our Budget 2026 analysis

Health Canada

What Health Canada spent in fiscal year 2021-22: its net expenditure by standard object, from the Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II.

What Health Canada does

Health Canada is the federal department responsible for protecting and improving the health of Canadians. It develops health policy, regulates pharmaceuticals and medical devices, enforces food safety standards, and funds public health programs, working with provinces and territories to support the health-care system. Through the Public Health Agency of Canada it monitors health risks and manages disease outbreaks, and it funds medical research through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Spending, 2021-22

Net spending, 2021-22

$6.04B

spent by Health Canada, less revenues it kept

Share, 2021-22

1.6%

of the net spending of every federal organization

How did Health Canada spend its budget in 2021-22?

By standard object. Revenues it kept are negative and netted against its spending. Transfer payments are broken into their largest named programs.

Spending by standard object, 2021-22

Transfer payments

Utilities, materials and supplies

Personnel

Professional and special services

Transportation and communications

Information

Acquisition of machinery and equipment

Rentals

Repair and maintenance

Other subsidies and payments

Acquisition of land, buildings and works

Internal revenues

External revenues

$3.25B

$1.3B

$1.07B

$270M

$185M

$85M

$36.3M

$30.9M

$26.6M

$6.5M

$480K

-$33M

-$178M

Total: $6.04B.

Workforce, 2021-22

Full-time equivalents

9,528

the actual FTEs of its programs, as GC InfoBase reports them

Personnel spending

$1.07B

salaries, wages and benefits (the personnel standard object)

Personnel spending per FTE

$112K

personnel spending divided by full-time equivalents

A full-time equivalent is a measure of employment, not a headcount: two half-time employees are one FTE. Personnel spending includes benefits and pension contributions, so per FTE it is not an average salary.

Transfer payment programs, 2021-22

The grants, contributions and other transfers Health Canada paid, program by program: $3.25B in all, against $3.25B for the transfer payments object above (the Public Accounts publish the two tables separately).

Strengthening Canada's Home and Community Care and Mental Health and Addiction Initiative and Virtual Care Services InitiativePaymentsOther transfer$2,552,597,627
COVID-19 Safe Restart Agreements Transfer Payment ProgramPaymentsContribution$152,741,563
Contribution to the Canadian Institute for Health InformationPaymentsContribution$101,373,979
Substance Use and Addictions ProgramPaymentsContribution$97,662,938
Contribution to Canada Health InfowayPaymentsContribution$91,242,085
Contribution to the Canadian Partnership Against CancerPaymentsContribution$52,453,123
Official Languages Health ProgramPaymentsContribution$38,785,000
Contribution to the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in HealthPaymentsContribution$29,058,769
Contribution Funding to Improve Health Care Quality and Patient SafetyPaymentsContribution$28,400,000
Territorial Health Investment FundPaymentsGrant$27,000,000
Health Care Policy and Strategies ProgramPaymentsContribution$26,787,112
Mental Health Commission of Canada Contributions ProgramPaymentsContribution$14,250,000
Canadian Thalidomide Survivors Support ProgramPaymentsContribution$11,747,776
Canada Brain Research Fund ProgramPaymentsContribution$11,616,271
Organs, Tissues, and Blood ProgramPaymentsContribution$8,780,000
22 programs$3,250,849,610
1 / 2

Contracts of $10,000 and under

Contracts this small are not published one by one: Treasury Board publishes each organization's totals, by calendar year, for contracts of $10,000 and under (their original value and their amendments) and for acquisition card purchases. They are the value of contracts entered into, not what was paid in a fiscal year, so they are not part of the net expenditure above, and the years are calendar years.

Calendar yearGoodsServicesConstructionAcquisition cardsTotal
2025$1,586,257$20,449,048$125,858$18,984,141$41,145,303
2024$1,719,703$18,592,277$140,086$22,588,626$43,040,692
2023$1,997,536$20,493,984$93,693$22,063,894$44,649,107
2022$2,898,595$22,712,290$220,940$18,278,759$44,110,583
2021$2,863,373$22,640,125$178,266$19,331,865$45,013,628
2020$2,692,383$17,778,158$180,636$15,939,582$36,590,760
2019$3,177,607$18,384,951$284,518$21,476,980$43,324,056
2018$4,031,471$15,656,293$146,617$20,496,340$40,330,721
2017$7,443,507$16,874,799$180,043$26,977,714$51,476,062

Health Canada’s share of federal net spending