“There is no path to a healthy economy without a healthy public and investment in science”
To The Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada and the new Liberal Government:
A healthy economy needs a healthy public
We would like to congratulate you on forming the new Liberal government which was elected on the premise of defending our sovereignty and protecting Canadians from economic threats from the United States. We live in unprecedented times with democracies around the world and the foundations of science facing formidable challenges. We understand that there are many important issues currently on your agenda, but what we are asking of your government is crucial to all Canadians and aligns with your nation-building goals:
1. Increase funding for scientific and medical research in Canada.
From 2020 to 2021, the NIH funded approximately $55.7 billion CAD in research. This is how universities in the U.S. were able to attract many of the world’s top scientists. The scientific discoveries made by U.S.-based scientists have given the U.S. enormous global prestige and clout. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research, in comparison, only provided $1.44 billion in funding. The drastic cuts to the NIH and many top universities in the U.S. represent a unique prospect for Canada. Increasing funding for research in Canada will not only benefit Canadian scientific research immediately but will also help recruit top scientists from around the world. It would represent an extraordinary opportunity for the current Liberal government to elevate Canada as a global leader in scientific and medical research.
Canada could rapidly establish itself as an important global research force by funding research into long Covid, an emerging condition that urgently needs to be addressed. From an August 2024 report, “the global incidence of long Covid is around 400 million individuals, which is estimated to have an annual economic impact of approximately $1 trillion—equivalent to about 1% of the global economy.” In 2023, there were an estimated 3.5 million people in Canada with long Covid, but this number is likely much higher now, and this figure did not include children or youths. The socioeconomic impact of long Covid is substantial, yet there is little data. There are currently no tests to diagnose patients, no established treatments for long Covid, and still no unique medical billing code to accurately track the disease. A study published by the Public Health Agency of Canada in 2023 estimated long Covid health care costs at between $7.8 billion and $50.6 billion per year. Unfortunately, long Covid remains under-researched and underfunded in Canada, despite the vast evidence that it is a public health crisis that demands immediate attention.
Increasing funding for research will also prepare Canada for the future, not only by creating a whole new industry for Canada with employment opportunities, but also by preparing Canada for the next pandemic, which scientists concur is inevitable.
2. Upgrade public buildings, including hospitals, long-term care facilities, and schools, to ASHRAE 241 standard and guideline 44 air ventilation standards.
As we write, wildfires are raging in northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba, with 5,000 people from the town of Flin Flon, Manitoba, evacuated to Winnipeg. The wildfires have led to air quality issues as far away as Toronto. The toxins in wildfire smoke aggravate respiratory conditions and contain carcinogens. Due to climate change, more intense and frequent fires will continue to be an annual event.
At the same time, Canada is also facing a threat from contagious airborne viruses, with measles outbreaks in Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec on a scale that hasn’t been seen in more than 25 years.
As of June 2, 2025, Health Canada reports 2,429 confirmed cases and 329 probable cases of measles, including one death. With rising vaccine hesitancy and falling immunization rates for childhood vaccines such as measles and Rubella across Canada, these cases will likely increase.
Covid-19 has not gone. As of May 31, 2025, Health Canada reports 580 new cases and 17 outbreaks of Covid-19 across Canada. Covid-19 has now become an endemic virus, which means that Covid-19 infections, while lower in number, will still occur regularly.
Many buildings in Canada currently have aged ventilation systems that are non-compliant with ASHRAE 241 standard, which specifically establishes minimum ventilation requirements that reduce the risk of infectious disease transmission through the air. There is substantial scientific evidence that portable air filtration units are both cost effective and highly effective at preventing disease transmission. Additionally, ASHRAE guideline 44 specifically establishes requirements for protecting building occupants from smoke during wildfire and prescribed burn events.
On April 1, 2025, the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which has set standards for worker safety since 1970, was decimated by staffing cuts by the U.S. health secretary.
This has made it even more crucial for Canada to have a national policy to upgrade air ventilation standards to the ASHRAE 241 and guidelines 44 to protect Canadians from the toxic effects of wildfire smoke and from dangerous respiratory viruses such as measles and Covid-19.
3. Covid-19 vaccine procurement, including that of Novavax Nuvaxovid, should be under federal jurisdiction.
In January 2025, the Trudeau government announced that procurement of Covid-19 vaccines would no longer be under federal jurisdiction, and would be the responsibility of provinces and territories. There are a number of issues with this policy.
We urge you to remember that Covid-19 vaccines were not available to Canadians for more than six months after they were available for all U.S. citizens. Canada needs to step up and manufacture vaccines in our own country to protect our own residents. In 2020, Canada invested $126 million for the construction of the Biologics Manufacturing Centre (BMC) in Montreal, but the facility has yet to produce any vaccine doses for public use. Under the new U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, there are also many proposed changes with U.S. vaccine policy, which scientists say are a departure from known scientific facts and current vaccine standards of practice.
Provinces by themselves do not have the ability to order Covid-19 vaccines such as Novavax Nuvaxovid because they can’t fulfill the minimum requirement for an order. Last fall, Health Canada decided that Novavax Nuvaxovid would not be offered as a choice for Covid-19 vaccination for the fall/winter 2024-2025 season, despite its availability in previous years. The reason cited was lack of demand. However, many Canadians report that it was due to lack of availability of the vaccine. A November 2024 real-world study found that Novavax had favorable and similar effectiveness against severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, respectively, compared with the Pfizer mRNA vaccine, with evidence of enhanced durability. Novavax Nuvaxovid has been found to have many fewer side effects and lower risk of myocarditis and pericarditis compared to the mRNA vaccines. As of January 2024, 58,712 Canadians have had at least one adverse effect from mRNA vaccines. Novavax is a good alternative vaccine for these people; these include immunocompromised people who, after adverse reactions, cannot have the mRNA vaccines, and find they have become “expendable” people with no Novavax Nuvaxovid available for them.
Manufacturing and supplying Novavax Nuvaxovid and other vaccines here in Canada would channel the dynamism necessary to support Canada’s economy while empowering its citizens to make health choices that best suit their needs.
4. Bring in stronger federal guidelines for airborne protections in health care settings such as hospitals, long-term care facilities, laboratories, and radiology offices.
The world marked the fifth anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic this year. Since then, there has been overwhelming scientific evidence that Covid-19 is a virus primarily transmitted via the air.
Influenza and RSV are also dangerous respiratory viruses, with 671 and 84 deaths, respectively, in Canada since August 25, 2024. Yet, in many provinces and territories, including B.C., droplet precautions such as handwashing, drawing of curtains, and wiping of surfaces are still being used as the primary mitigation strategy against Covid-19 and other airborne viruses—even though many studies have shown this to be ineffective compared with the use of airborne precautions, including the use of masks.
Studies have shown medical masks in hospitals can reduce the rates of respiratory infections by as much as 33%. The use of respirators, such as N95 masks, reduced the rates of infection by as much as 100%. Studies have also shown that mask mandates double compliance with mask wearing. But in provinces like B.C., the required use of N95 masks has been limited to Aerosol Generating Medical Procedures (AGMP), even though patients coughing and talking can aerosolize airborne viruses such as Covid-19.
We already have a shortage of health care workers across Canada. We are currently facing a new and severe Covid-19 variant that has already inundated hospitals and reduced available health care staff across Asia. Masking is important to protect our health care workers from becoming ill, ensuring they can continue their work. This is vital for the Canadian economy.
Masks should not only be used to decrease the burden on emergency rooms during the fall/winter; they should be used year-round because many of the most contagious viruses, such as Covid-19 and measles, are not seasonal viruses.
Furthermore, masks also protect patients in hospitals and other health care settings where the most vulnerable in our population exist.
On April 12, 2023, B.C. Human Rights Commissioner Kasari Govender released the following statement:
“As mask restrictions have been lifted in B.C., I have repeatedly expressed concerns about the human rights implications of these policy decisions: that the removal of mask mandates has a disproportionate impact on marginalized people, seniors, and those who are clinically extremely vulnerable. This represents a violation of their rights to equal participation in our communities.”
Masking in health care settings ensures fair and equitable access to those spaces for marginalized folks and fosters an environment of solidarity in which the vulnerable can be protected.
Canada needs federal guidelines recommending the use of airborne precautions, including the use of masks (especially N95 masks), in health care settings in order to protect our health care workers and vulnerable patients from dangerous airborne viruses.
We urge you to implement our four requested measures. If you were to do so, the new Liberal government would not only be upholding Canada’s fundamental commitment to science and to health, safety, and equity for all, but it would also be building a stronger, healthier nation and a global leader in science and research. But above all, a healthy economy needs a healthy public.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration of this request.
Sincerely,
Protect our Province BC
Canadian Covid Society/Société canadienne de la covid
Protect Our Province BC is a non-profit grassroots organization consisting of doctors, nurses, health scientists, and community advocates striving to keep the people of British Columbia safe by sharing accurate scientific knowledge about COVID-19. We are also advocating for the millions of people in BC and across Canada who now have Long COVID.
The Canadian Covid Society is a national organization whose mission is to inform the public about the health consequences of Covid infections, to advocate for science-based measures to reduce the transmission of the virus, and to empower and support people with Long Covid.
