NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh wouldn’t say at a press conference whether his party would break its supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals if a pharmacare agreement was not passed by the end of 2023.
“We made it really clear what we want to see happen and we’re in negotiations right now. So we’re going to keep up the pressure,” Mr. Singh said during a press conference in Toronto on Nov. 15. “And the Liberals know exactly what we want, and we’re going to continue those negotiations.”
The NDP leader said he did not expect to see legislation in next week’s fall economic statement to create a national pharmacare system due to the ongoing negotiations between the two parties, adding he was “not worried about next week in terms of pharmacare.”
He said the party had seen the first draft of the pharmacare agreement and “made it very clear that first draft was insufficient for our support,” so the Liberals are amending it.
“The sticking point is the Liberals want to bring in legislation that appeases the big pharmaceutical industry. We don’t care about that. We don’t want to appease them. We want to make sure Canadians can afford their medication,” Mr. Singh said.
The supply-and-confidence agreement signed by the two parties back in March 2022 stipulates that the NDP will support the Liberals in confidence votes and budgetary matters until June 2025 in exchange for the government supporting key NDP priorities like dental care and pharmacare.
When asked by a reporter if his party would pull out of the agreement if pharmacare was not introduced, Mr. Singh said their demands of the Liberals had been “really clear.” Mr. Singh also highlighted how they “forced” cabinet to table a dental care plan for children under 12, which was another key NDP priority.
“They said they couldn’t do it around the same time last year. They were saying no, it’s not possible, can’t meet the deadline. They got it done,” Mr. Singh said. “We’re in the same position we were before, and we’re going to use the power we have to fight to deliver health to Canadians. Pharmacare is something we believe in, the Liberals know how important it is, and we’re not going to back down.”
Back in December 2022, Mr. Singh said that if the Liberals failed to address Canada’s health-care crisis, the NDP would “absolutely reserve the right to withdraw our support.” In June 2023, the party also tabled a private member’s bill on pharmacare to pressure the Liberal government.
In August, Health Minister Mark Holland said legislation to implement a universal pharmacare program would be tabled this fall. Then in October, he said a country’s “fiscal reality” may make it difficult to meet the “challenging” deadline imposed by the NDP.
In June, Mr. Holland’s predecessor Jean-Yves Duclos also warned that the pharmacare legislation may not be passed by the end of the year.
“This is a minority government. We don’t obviously control the House of Commons, but we'll do all we can to be able to both table and to pass the bill by the end of this year,” he told reporters.
In order to meet the deadline to pass the bill before the end of the year, the bill would need to pass through both the House of Commons and Senate, as well as undergo two committee studies before Parliament breaks in December.
Back in 2019, an advisory council appointed by the Liberal government found that by the time the pharmacare program was fully implemented in 2027, it would cost $15 billion a year. A Parliamentary Budget Office report from October 2023 found the program would cost $11.2 billion in the first year of 2024-25 and $14.4 billion in 2027.
