The pharmacare bill that was central to the now-disbanded Liberal-NDP agreement has officially become law, receiving royal assent on Oct. 10 after passing through the Senate without any amendments.
The law, previously known as
Bill C-64, will guide the development of future national universal pharmacare plans. It will enable the government to negotiate agreements with provinces and territories to include diabetes and birth control medications within the public health system.
“This is going to be truly transformative for millions of Canadians,” Health Minister Mark Holland said in a video posted on the
platform X.
British Columbia has already signed a
memorandum of understanding with Ottawa to implement the program for diabetes and hormone replacement drugs in the province.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh celebrated the passage of the bill in
a post on X, saying that it will provide Canadians “free birth control, diabetes medications, and devices,” adding that it means “relief for people and less power for Big Pharma.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said last month that his party opposes the Liberal-NDP national pharmacare plan, saying it would compel Canadians to forfeit their private drug coverage.
“I will reject the radical plan for a ’single-payer' drug plan, which is right in the law,” Poilievre said in the
House of Commons on Sept. 24. “By definition, that means all private plans must be banned under the Liberal-NDP agenda, which they lay out in their wording in their pharmacare bill.”
The wording and content of the bill were negotiated as part of the supply-and-confidence agreement between the Liberals and the NDP. Last month, the NDP withdrew from the agreement, which had been key to keeping the minority Liberals in power.
The new law requires the government to convene an expert panel within the next month to explore the next steps in establishing a pharmacare program. This committee will have one year to submit its recommendations to the health minister.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
