Less focus on COVID-19 expected to lead to $650-million spending cuts for PHAC by 2027-2028

Overall spending, including internal services, could drop by nearly $650-million, from approximately $1.83-billion in 2025-26 to $1.18-billion in 2027-28. Expiring funding for some mental health and diabetes initiatives are also contributing to fewer dollars, states the agency’s 2025-26 plan.

Then-deputy chief public health officer Dr. Howard Njoo, left, and then-chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam at a press conference in 2020. Following Tam’s departure from the public health agency this past June, Njoo is now the interim chief public health officer.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY TESSIE SANCI

August 11, 2025

The Public Health Agency of Canada could see more than one-third of its total program funding cut by 2027-28 due to a reduced focus on COVID-19-related measures, according to its recently published departmental plan.

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