The countdown is on — we are days away until the federal election, and we now have a good sense of what each party is promising. As the ballots are about to be cast, it’s worth pausing to reflect on what’s really at stake — not in theory, but in real life terms.
As an organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), we hear real life accounts about the barriers people face. And with the federal election just days away, we have the opportunity to influence how Canada will tackle the biggest issues we face.
So, what are the parties saying when it comes to free contraception for all? Free medication needed to stay healthy? Making sure abortion is accessible to all who need it? Investing in strengthening our health care systems so we can get the care we have a right to? Protecting our right to have accurate health information so we can make decisions about our lives and health?
Free Contraception for all – Free medication for all
Liberal Party of Canada
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The Liberal Party is promising to expand access to free contraception across the country through the federal Pharmacare program. Their platform shows their intentions to continue working with provinces and territories who have not yet signed agreements to join the federal program that would expand cost coverage for contraception and diabetes drugs from coast to coast to coast. It is announced as the first phase of the implementation of the Pharmacare program.
Conservative Party of Canada
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The party stated that under a Conservative government, Canadians who have access to existing federal dental care, child care and Pharmacare programs would not lose those services. The party does not intend on expanding the program beyond the existing agreements.
New Democratic Party
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The NDP promises to strengthen public universal health care by expanding Pharmacare, dental care and mental health support for Canadians. The party plans on delivering full public Pharmacare within four years, starting with 100 of the most prescribed medications, such as pain medication, antibiotics and antipsychotics at estimated cost of $3.5 billion.
Green Party
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The Green Party promises to make medicines free for everyone through universal Pharmacare.
Bloc Quebecois
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The Bloc Québécois does not make a commitment on Pharmacare. However, they promise demand that the federal dental care program be transferred to Quebec, which they see as a cost-saving measure by entrusting its management to the RAMQ rather than a private insurer, while allowing for an adjustment of fee schedules to ensure that they truly reflect the costs billed to patients.
People’s Party of Canada
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The PPC promises to abolish social programs that intrude on provincial jurisdiction, including the federal Pharmacare program, to focus spending on core federal responsibilities.
Access to abortion, sexual and reproductive health care, and protecting public health care
Liberal Party of Canada
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The Liberal Party is promising to modernize Canada’s Public Health care System, including cutting wait times in half for life-saving medications, launching a Task Force for Public Health Care Innovation, implementing a national license for physicians and nurses, reducing the administrative burden on doctors, and securing Canadians’ access to their health care data. The party is proposing $4 billion for community health infrastructure and announced new funding to help internationally trained professionals join the health care workforce.
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The Liberal Party is promising to make the Sexual and Reproductive Fund, housed at Health Canada, permanent, though no amount of funding is attached to its programming. They specifically indicate that this is to ensure that there will always be funding for abortion care in Canada, with access to abortion protected for underserved communities.
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They promise to establish a new in vitro fertilization (IVF) program that provides up to $20,000 for a single standard cycle of IVF treatment, making it more affordable for Canadians who want to become parents, especially 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians who face a costly journey to parenthood.
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The Liberal Party promises to address the under-researched area of postpartum maternal health by investing in research into postpartum maternal health to fund studies and track outcomes, disparities, and service gaps, and inform future investments so that women get better care after giving birth. Invest in increased collection of data to help address women’s health gaps in Canada, particularly in understudied areas of menopause, endometriosis, maternal mortality and morbidity, stillbirth, and perinatal health.
Conservative Party of Canada
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The Conservative Party is promising to uphold the Canada Health Act and defending universal public health care.
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They are proposing removing barriers, recognizing credentials, respecting workers, and empowering families.
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They are also promising to honour current federal health transfer agreements to fund healthcare.
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The Conservative Party believes the issues with the healthcare system are more about gatekeepers the block access to care and not that spending is inadequate. They are promising to launch a Blue Seal National Credentialling Plan that will provide small loans to for newcomers and to bring more qualified physicians to Canada, adding 15,000 doctors by 2030.
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Additionally, they promise not to support or pass laws, rules or regulations restricting abortion
New Democratic Party
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The NDP is promising to fight to healthcare cuts and for-profit American-style healthcare. They propose banning American corporations from buying Canada health facilitates and stopping cash-for-care clinics.
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The NDP promises to address Canada’s doctor shortage by increasing Canada Health Transfers by 1% for provinces that are committed to publicly reporting on their progress.
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To increase Canadian access to primary care, they are also promising to put in place a $5,000 tax credit to help boost pay for more than 780,000 nurses and Personal Support Workers
Green Party
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The Green Party is promising to enforce and strengthen the Canada Health Act ensuring that all new federal health care funding goes to public, not-for-profit services.
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They commit to prevent the privatization of healthcare, including preventing the expansion of for-profit clinics, extra billing, and user fees.
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The Green Party promise to enforce the Canada Health Act extends to ensuring all provinces and territories provide comprehensive reproductive health services, including abortion, without financial or logistical barriers.
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Additionally, they promise to expand telemedicine services to provide medication abortion and related care, focusing on underserved and remote communities and inclusive reproductive health care to 2SLGBTQ+ people.
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The Green Party promises to expand group practices and community health clinics by hiring more nurse practitioners, mental health professionals, physician assistants, and allied health workers to reduce wait times and improve preventive care
Bloc Quebecois
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The Bloc Québécois is promising to increase in federal health transfers to 35% of total costs in order to address the ongoing crisis in our public health care system.
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They have reiterated their commitment to fighting against any legislation efforts to weaken women’s rights to an abortion.
People’s Party of Canada
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The PPC promises to repeal the Canada Health Act to create a pathway for provinces to establish a mixed private-public universal health system.
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They also promise to replace the Canada Health Transfer cash payment with a permanent transfer of tax points of equivalent value by eliminating the GST (saving upwards of $52 billion in revenues).
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Additionally, they promise to compensate poorer provinces by establishing a temporary program compensate poorer provinces whose revenues from the new tax points will be lower than the Health Transfer payments they used to receive.
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The PPC promises to Introduce the Protection of Preborn Children Act that would restrict abortion after the first-trimester and late-term abortions.
Protecting our right to accurate health information
Liberal Party of Canada
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The Liberal Party is promising to strengthen science and research in Canada. This includes Investing in increased collection of data to help address women’s health gaps in Canada, particularly in understudied areas of menopause, endometriosis, maternal mortality and morbidity, stillbirth, and perinatal health.
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The Liberal Party is promising to ensure people have access to reliable information. In a sea of American media and disinformation, the LPC will reinforce CBC/Radio-Canada by Fully equipping them to combat disinformation so that Canadians have a news source they know and trust.
Conservative Party of Canada
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The Conservative Party does not have concrete promises to fight misinformation/disinformation. They promise to defund the CBC while maintaining Radio-Canada.
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They also promise to protect free speech on campus universities by enforcing the standards of section 2 of the Charter’s freedom of expression as a condition for federal funding.
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They Conservative Party promises to defend women’s safety by banning transwomen from women’s prisons and ensure the banning of transwomen in other gendered spaces is protected in federal institutions and policy.
New Democratic Party
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The NDP promises to ensure Charter rights, expand supports for the CBC, and protect diversity in Canada, including 2SLGBTQI+ communities.
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They promise to restore a dedicated Ministries for Women and Gender Equality, for people with disabilities, and for diversity.
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They promise concrete action to protect Canada from misinformation and disinformation from foreign actors, bad-faith influencers, or unregulated “media” platforms. That includes supporting digital literacy, addressing online hate and discrimination, and holding those who spread false and harmful content accountable.
Green Party
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The Green Party promises combat hate, misinformation, and digital harms including establishing a Special Rapporteur on Online Hate and Extremism to monitor, research, and recommend policies to counter digital radicalization and misinformation.
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They propose enhancing the collection of disaggregated data on reproductive health to identify and address disparities in access and outcomes.
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They’ve promised to increase funding for research on how online hate and misinformation fuel real-world violence, ensuring transparency in findings and policy recommendations. They promise to uphold digital rights protections through legislation outlined in Managing Technological Change.
Bloc Quebecois
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The Bloc Québécois does not have any promises on fighting misinformation/disinformation
People’s Party of Canada
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The PPC does not have any promises on fighting misinformation/disinformation
We can’t afford to treat reproductive healthcare as a side issue—it’s central to gender equality and economic prosperity.
Throughout this election, some politicians have claimed we have to choose between a strong economy and programs that improve our lives. That’s simply not true. Social programs are the backbone of a strong economy.
No matter who forms government, our job is to hold leaders accountable and push for policies that put people first. As Canada faces destabilizing challenges like U.S. tariffs, we need strong, universal programs that ensure no one is left behind. Healthcare and Pharmacare don’t just support individuals—they create millions of jobs, add billions to the economy, and build a more resilient society.
On April 28, let’s show where real power lies—with workers, renters, students, caregivers, and everyone who’s been told to settle for less. It’s time to demand better.