March 23, 2026

Read article originally published in The Hill Times
By: Michelle McLean

Canada’s modern healthcare system began in Saskatchewan under the leadership of Tommy Douglas and quickly became one of the country’s most important nation-building projects: a national effort to build a shared system founded on the principle that health services should be accessible based on need rather than ability to pay. What began as a nation-building project has become one of the most defining features of Canada’s national identity. To sustain it, governments must continue investing in the hospitals, technology and community health infrastructure that is the foundation of our healthcare system.

Canada’s healthcare system depends on more than doctors, nurses, medications and care programs. It also depends on the physical and digital infrastructure that makes modern care possible: hospitals and clinics that can safely house advanced equipment, integrated home and community care networks, data systems that allow providers to share information, and connectivity that enables care to reach patients wherever they live. While provincial and territorial governments are largely responsible for delivering healthcare services, the federal government has a critical role to play in ensuring that healthcare infrastructure keeps pace with the needs of a changing healthcare system.

That need has never been more urgent. More than half of Canada’s hospitals and health facilities were built over fifty years ago. Aging buildings face mounting maintenance backlogs and were never designed for the technology-intensive care environments that define modern medicine. A 2015 HealthCareCAN report estimated that tens of billions of dollars were required just to address existing disrepair across the country’s more than 1,000 hospitals.

The federal government’s commitment of $5 billion for health infrastructure in Budget 2025 was an important and welcome signal that Ottawa recognizes this system challenge. But it must be seen as a starting point rather than a solution. Decades of deferred investment cannot be addressed through one-time commitments. Canada needs a sustained federal investment strategy that recognizes healthcare infrastructure as a national priority.

It is also important to realize that healthcare infrastructure is no longer limited to bricks and mortar. Digital technologies and infrastructure have become just as essential to delivering high-quality care. Across the country, health systems are already using data and advanced technologies to improve patient outcomes and system performance. Peterborough Regional Health Centre’s Peregrine platform provides real-time data to support clinical and operational decision-making. Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital successful hospital-at-home program helps patients recover at home while being remotely monitored, alleviating emergency department overcrowding and freeing up hospital beds.

These innovations demonstrate what is possible, but they also illustrate the need for modern infrastructure to support them. Hospitals need facilities designed to integrate advanced medical technologies. Health systems require interoperable data platforms that allow information to move securely between providers. Patients in rural, remote and northern communities need access to community health services and reliable high-speed internet to access virtual care services that can reduce travel and expand access to specialists.

For these reasons, federal investment must take a comprehensive view of health infrastructure and one that recognizes the inseparable relationship between physical facilities and digital capacity. National leadership is particularly important in areas such as data interoperability, connectivity and the modernization of major hospital assets, where coordinated investment can ensure that systems across the country can work together effectively.

There is also a strong economic case for investing in healthcare infrastructure. Hospital construction and modernization projects create high-quality jobs, stimulate local supply chains and benefit local economies across the country. Strategic investment in health infrastructure also helps to create the productive workforce essential to Canada’s broader industrial ambitions and agenda.

A recent poll found 89% of Canadians believe improving access to the universal healthcare system should be a key priority in building a stronger country.  Meeting the scale of today’s challenges requires a long-term federal commitment that reflects that sense of importance and ensures that our healthcare infrastructure is ready to serve the needs of patients, providers and communities for generations to come.  It is hard to imagine a nation-building project that would garner more support from Canadians coast to coast to coast.

Michelle McLean
President and CEO, HealthCareCAN

HealthCareCAN is the national voice of hospitals, health authorities, health research institutes, and healthcare organizations across Canada.