Newfoundland and Labrador: A Health System Profile

There is not, and has never been, a single Canadian health system. Part of a series on the health systems of Canada’s provinces and territories, Newfoundland and Labrador: A Health System Profile provides a critical analysis of how the single-payer health care system has been implemented in the country’s youngest province.

Examining the way the province’s health services are organized, funded, and delivered, the authors focus on the challenges involved in providing effective health care in a setting characterized by a large, decentralized territory; a small population, much of which is widely distributed in a large number of rural communities and small towns; and comparatively limited fiscal capacity and health human resources. Drawing on maps, figures, and collected data, this book documents the hesitant and limited ways in which Newfoundland and Labrador has sought to deal with the challenges and difficulties that the system has experienced in responding to recent changes in demography, economics, and medical technology.

Stephen Bornstein is a professor in the Division of Community Health and Humanities and the Department of Political Science and the director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Applied Health Research at Memorial University of Newfoundland.


John Abbott is the chief executive officer of the Newfoundland-Labrador division of the Canadian Mental Health Association, former deputy minister of NL’s health and community services department, and the last CEO of the Health Council of Canada.


Victor Maddalena is an associate professor in the Division of Community Health and Humanities and Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland.


Aimee Letto is a lawyer from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, whose work focuses on health law and public health policy.


Melissa Sullivan is an applied health services research consultant.