Health Canada
What Health Canada spent in fiscal year 2023-24: its net expenditure by standard object, from the Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II.
Reports through Health; the overview shows it in that ministry.
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, 2023-24
Net spending, 2023-24
$6.84B
spent by Health Canada, less revenues it kept
Share, 2023-24
1.4%
of the net spending of every federal organization
How did Health Canada spend its budget in 2023-24?
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, 2023-24
Transfer payments
Personnel
Professional and special services
Acquisition of machinery and equipment
Rentals
Information
Repair and maintenance
Utilities, materials and supplies
Transportation and communications
Other subsidies and payments
Acquisition of land, buildings and works
Internal revenues
External revenues
$5.24B
$1.26B
$400M
$44.3M
$37.9M
$37.2M
$21.5M
$20.5M
$11.7M
$5.1M
$747K
-$30.9M
-$213M
Total: $6.84B.
Spending by program, 2023-24
The same net spending by program, as GC InfoBase reports program actuals: $6.84B in all. Select a program for its history, plans and results.
$4.57B
$601M
$209M
$197M
$130M
$98.3M
$94.8M
$92.8M
$92.6M
$82.7M
$77.3M
$76.9M
$73.1M
$69.2M
$63M
$40.4M
$36M
$35.8M
$34.1M
$33.9M
$26.6M
$25.7M
$25.5M
$19M
$17.4M
$5.5M
$5.3M
$4.2M
$4.1M
$237K
Workforce, 2023-24
Full-time equivalents
9,848
the actual FTEs of its programs, as GC InfoBase reports them
Personnel spending
$1.26B
salaries, wages and benefits (the personnel standard object)
Personnel spending per FTE
$128K
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, 2023-24
The grants, contributions and other transfers Health Canada paid, program by program: $5.24B in all, against $5.24B for the transfer payments object above (the Public Accounts publish the two tables separately).
| Contributions to Provinces and Territories for Shared Health PrioritiesPayments | Other transfer | $2,500,000,000 |
| Payments to provinces and territories for the Purpose of Home Care and Mental HealthPayments | Other transfer | $1,800,312,300 |
| Payments for dental benefits pursuant to the Dental Benefit ActPayments | Other transfer | $246,548,657 |
| Substance Use and Addictions ProgramPayments | Contribution | $141,978,687 |
| Contribution to the Canadian Institute for Health InformationPayments | Contribution | $127,683,979 |
| Health Care Policy and Strategies ProgramPayments | Contribution | $79,561,505 |
| Contribution to Canada Health InfowayPayments | Contribution | $75,663,123 |
| Contribution to the Canadian Partnership Against CancerPayments | Contribution | $47,500,000 |
| Official Languages Health ProgramPayments | Contribution | $38,999,998 |
| Contribution to the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in HealthPayments | Contribution | $38,728,678 |
| Territorial Health Investment FundPayments | Grant | $35,000,000 |
| Contribution Funding to Improve Health Care Quality and Patient SafetyPayments | Contribution | $25,100,000 |
| Canada Brain Research Fund ProgramPayments | Contribution | $23,359,164 |
| Canadian Thalidomide Survivors Support ProgramPayments | Contribution | $18,208,245 |
| Organs, Tissues, and Blood ProgramPayments | Contribution | $18,018,000 |
| 20 programs | $5,244,395,855 | |
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 year | Goods | Services | Construction | Acquisition cards | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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
Other organizations in Health
Sources
- Public Accounts of Canada 2024, Volume II: Ministerial expenditures by standard object (Table 3)
- Public Accounts of Canada, Volume II: Transfer payments (multi-year open data)
- GC InfoBase – Federal Programs – Actual and Planned Spending (programs_spending.csv)
- GC InfoBase – Federal Programs – Actual and Planned Employees (programs_ftes.csv)
- Proactive Publication - Contracts: Aggregated Total - Contracts $10K and under
Department figures are net expenditure (Public Accounts, Volume II), which doesn’t add up to the accrual expenses of the overview’s headline. See the methodology.
