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Human papillomavirus, the leading cause of cervical cancer, will be targeted with $300-million in vaccination funding announced yesterday by the federal Conservative government.

It's a decision that is being hailed by health professionals -- and will hold much appeal for parents of teenage girls -- but could alienate some elements of the socially right-wing base of the Conservative Party.

Cervical cancer is the second-most common form of cancer -- after breast cancer -- in women between 20 and 44.

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization has recommended that every nine- to 13-year-old girl in Canada should be vaccinated against the disease and that older girls and women should also be vaccinated, even if they are already sexually active, because they may not yet have been infected.

But the vaccine is expensive; it costs about $140 a shot, and three shots are needed for full effectiveness against the disease. That has led the provinces, which are responsible for health-care delivery, to ask for help in defraying the expense.

"We have been recommending to the federal government that they fund the vaccine," said Gail Beck, the president of the Federation of Medical Women of Canada, who said the money, which will be paid in 2007-08, is enough to cover the cost of the vaccine across the country.

"The federation believes that this is the biggest breakthrough in women's health in many years."

Cervical cancer kills about 400 women every year in Canada, and the virus is believed to infect between 10 and 20 per cent of the women in the country.

But when the state of Texas decided to make vaccination against human papillomavirus mandatory, many evangelical Christians cried foul. Because the disease is sexually transmitted, they argued that the vaccination would take away their parental rights and could give girls implicit permission to have sex.

The money allotted yesterday does not imply that a mandatory vaccination regime will be instituted in Canada -- but does make the possibility more likely. And it could ruffle some feathers among the more socially conservative supporters of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a group that is already angered by what they see as a Conservative capitulation on same-sex marriage.

The announcement in yesterday's budget means the government has decided that it is more important to spend on items that will appeal to families, particularly in urban and suburban areas, than to keep a small number of increasingly restless social Conservatives in the fold.

Meanwhile, reluctant provinces have been given more than $600-million to comply, even in a small way, with federal demands that they guarantee that certain medical treatments will be provided within clinically acceptable amounts of time.

Any province that limits waiting times for at least one procedure selected from five priority areas -- cancer care, heart care, cataract surgery, joint replacement and diagnostic imaging -- will share in a one-time pot of $61-million.

The funding amounts to something of an about-face for the Conservatives, who have said repeatedly they will provide no additional money for the guarantees -- requirements that the provinces pay to send patients elsewhere when treatment is not available locally in a timely manner.

At least $10-million will go to each province that falls in step with the Conservative plans, and another $500-million will be divided among those same provinces on a per capita basis. The three northern territories will share the remaining $12-million provided.

The funds can be spent any way the province or territory chooses. For Ontario, the decision to sign on to the federal demand for guarantees will mean an additional $205.5-million this year. For Quebec, it will mean $125.6-million. And even tiny Prince Edward Island stands to gain $12.1-million.

The provinces have also demanded more money for computer technology that would help create electronic health records that they say will reduce waiting times for treatment and medical errors. As Health Minister Tony Clement has been hinting for several months, the new budget includes $400-million for that purpose.

It will go to the Canada Health Infoway, a non-profit corporation created in 2004 to manage the electronic record, and will be disbursed by its board.

$300-MILLION

Federal financing to help provinces pay for vaccinating women against cervical cancer. (Total estimated cost is more than $1-billion.)

60,000

Number of poor people expected to seek work as a result of new tax benefits.

77

Number of foreign countries that benefit from Canada's international aid program. <239></body3>

Investments in health care

The government announced new initiatives, the bulk of which were geared toward reducing wait times. There was additional money to protect women from cervical cancer.

$1.35-billion 2006-2008

Patient wait times guarantee trust:

To support jurisdictions that have committed to implementing guarantees

$612,000,000 in 2006-2007

Protecting women from cancer of the cervix Vaccine program to protect women and girls

$300,000,000 in 2007-2008

Patient wait times guarantee pilots:

To support pilot projects.

$10,000,000 in 2006-2007

Canadian Mental Health Commission:

To establish a commission that will develop a mental-health strategy.

$3,000,000 in 2006-2007

Canadian MedicAlert Foundation:

To support a program that provides free MedicAlert bracelets to children.

$2,000,000 in 2007-2008

Canadian institute for Health Information:

To support CIHI's efforts in providing health information.

$22,000,000 in 2007-2008

Canada health infoway:

For development of health info systems and electronic records to improve wait-time guarantees.

$400,000,000 in 2006-2007

SOURCE: DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE

"We've tried to be reasonable. I don't know how long we're expected to wait, but I don't think this country can afford to see such poverty in such an incredibly wealthy country. It's just too disappointing."

PHIL FONTAINE, NATIONAL CHIEF, ASSEMBLY OF FIRST NATIONS

"They're basically assimilating us into the rest of Canadians. I don't know whether they even know about the whole history of our people. It's very frustrating."

BEVERLEY JACOBS, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIVE WOMEN'S ALLIANCE ASSOCIATION OF CANADA