Minister of Health (Canada)

Minister of Health
Incumbent
Jane Philpott
since November 4, 2015
Department of Health
Style The Honourable
Appointer Governor General of Canada
Term length At Her Majesty's pleasure
Inaugural holder David Dingwall
Formation July 12, 1996
Salary $251,900 (CAD)
Website www.hc-sc.gc.ca
Canada
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Canada
Government

The Minister of Health (French: Ministre de la Santé) is the Minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet who is responsible for overseeing health-focused government agencies including Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as enforcing the Canada Health Act (the law governing Canada's universal health care system). The current Minister of Health is Jane Philpott, MP for Markham—Stouffville.[1]

The Minister of Health is responsible for maintaining and improving the health of Canadians. This is supported by the Health Portfolio which comprises:

The Health Portfolio consists of approximately 12,000 full-time equivalent employees and an annual budget of over $3.8 billion.[2]


History

Prior to 1944, the responsibilities of the current Health portfolio were part of the now-defunct post of Minister of Pensions and National Health. From 1944 to 1996, the post was known as the Minister of National Health and Welfare.

Philpott is the first medical doctor to hold the post.[3]

Ministers

Key:

No. Portrait Name Term of office Political party Ministry
1 David Dingwall July 12, 1996 June 10, 1997 Liberal 26 (Chrétien)
2 Allan Rock June 11, 1997 January 14, 2002 Liberal
3 Anne McLellan January 15, 2002 December 11, 2003 Liberal
4 Pierre Pettigrew December 12, 2003 July 19, 2004 Liberal 27 (Martin)
5 Ujjal Dosanjh July 20, 2004 February 5, 2006 Liberal
6 Tony Clement February 6, 2006 October 29, 2008 Conservative 28 (Harper)
7 Leona Aglukkaq October 30, 2008 July 15, 2013 Conservative
8 Rona Ambrose July 15, 2013 November 4, 2015 Conservative
9 Jane Philpott November 4, 2015 Incumbent Liberal 29 (J. Trudeau)

References

  1. ↑ Laura Fraser, "Rookie GTA MP Jane Philpott takes on health portfolio," CBC News, Nov. 4, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Health Portfolio". Government of Canada. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  3. ↑ "Jane Philpott, first MD to be named health minister, on mission to help poor". National Post. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.