Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
Canada - World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe
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1. Introduction<br />
The second largest country in the world as measured by area, <strong>Canada</strong><br />
is a high-income country with an advanced industrial economy. Since<br />
2006, <strong>Canada</strong>’s economic per<strong>for</strong>mance has been relatively solid despite<br />
the recession that began in 2008. Although revenue growth has remained robust,<br />
the federal government as well as a number of provincial governments have also<br />
reduced tax rates in recent years. At the same time, health care costs continue<br />
to rise at rates that exceed economic and government revenue growth, raising<br />
continuing concerns about the fiscal sustainability of health expenditures,<br />
financing through the public sector.<br />
In terms of the <strong>for</strong>m of government, <strong>Canada</strong> is a constitutional monarchy<br />
based on a British-style parliamentary system. It is also a federation with<br />
two constitutionally recognized orders of government. The first order is the<br />
central or “federal” government. The second but constitutionally equal order<br />
of government consists of the ten provincial governments in <strong>Canada</strong>, which<br />
bear the principal responsibility <strong>for</strong> a broad range of social policy programmes<br />
and services including the bulk of publicly financed and administered<br />
health services.<br />
Life expectancy in <strong>Canada</strong> has continued to increase since 1980, especially<br />
<strong>for</strong> males, and is relatively high compared with most OECD countries, even<br />
though infant mortality and maternal mortality rates tend to be worse than<br />
those in Australia, France and (especially) Sweden. The two main causes of<br />
death in <strong>Canada</strong> are cancer (malignant neoplasms) and cardiovascular disease,<br />
both of which have occupied the top positions since 2000.<br />
1. Introduction