The federal government’s response to a report it commissioned on national pharmacare was “shockingly dismissive,” NDP interim leader Don Davies said this week as he called on the Liberals to come clean on their plans for the program.
“I think it’s politically dishonest,” he said in an interview.
Davies was involved in the negotiations that brought forward the Pharmacare Act last year.
The law, which passed just over a year ago, was a key part of the supply-and-confidence deal between the NDP and Liberals under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.
It required the government to set up a committee of experts to recommend the best way to create a universal, single-payer pharmacare system.
That committee reported to Health Minister Marjorie Michel in October and its report was made public last month.
The report called on Ottawa to fully fund a list of essential medications that would cover more than 90 per cent of prescriptions in Canada, and set up an independent body to manage that list. The system would allow individuals to get their prescriptions at no cost using their health card.
The expert committee said the proposed model would avoid the pitfalls of working through lengthy negotiations on bilateral funding deals with the provinces and territories.
It also called on the government to pass legislation outlining details of the pharmacare policy and enshrining in law that Canadians have a right to essential medicines.
When asked if the government is planning to work toward that, Michel told reporters her government is reviewing the recommendations but made no commitment to act.
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“As you know, we have a lot of independent expert panels and they have their views, but it is non-binding for the government,” she said on Nov. 24.
Michel also disagreed with the argument that Ottawa should go ahead without bilateral deals, saying her role was to negotiate with provinces and territories.
“It’s almost like they’ve rejected the report before they’ve even studied it,” Davies said.
Members of the expert advisory committee met with Davies and other stakeholders in Ottawa last week.
They said they have been unable to secure a meeting with the health minister, although they requested one shortly after submitting their report. Michel’s office said it received no formal request for a meeting last week but did not explain why the minister hasn’t asked to meet with the committee.
No one from the federal cabinet has met with the committee since its report was released.
“I think what we’ve heard right now from this government is prioritization of other issues,” Dr. Nav Persaud, the expert committee chair and a doctor at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, told a press conference on Parliament Hill on Friday.
He argued pharmacare is more important than ever due to the trade war with the United States — which could cause more Canadians to lose their jobs and insurance benefits and could drive up the cost of pharmaceuticals through threatened tariffs.
Committee member Amy Lamb, executive director of the Indigenous Pharmacy Professionals of Canada, said the report “describes a nation-building investment purposely constructed from Canadian-made principles.”
Davies said the government needs to honour the Pharmacare Act and finalize work on the first phase of the program.
The law says Ottawa will negotiate agreements with provinces and territories to fund the cost of contraceptives and some diabetes medications.
Only four deals have been signed to date — with B.C., Manitoba, P.E.I. and Yukon — and for several months over the summer it was not clear if the Liberals planned to sign the remaining deals.
Health care advocates have criticized the resulting patchwork system, saying it’s unfair that people in some parts of the country have coverage while others do not.
“They continue to try to hoodwink Canadians into thinking they’re in favour of making sure every Canadian can get the medication they need with their public health care system, or card,” Davies said.
“But whenever it comes to advancing that, they balk.”
The government has been sending mixed messages on pharmacare since Prime Minister Mark Carney took over.
In their election platform and on the campaign trail, the Liberals pledged to “protect” programs like dental care and pharmacare — both of which were products of the NDP’s deal to prop up the Trudeau minority government.
In September, Carney said the government made “clear commitments” on pharmacare and that the remaining deals would be finalized “as quickly and as equitably as possible.” He did not commit to expanding to a national program.
His government’s first budget in early November included no new funding for pharmacare. The $1.5 billion set aside in the 2024 budget was meant to cover the first phase, but more than 60 per cent of that money is already committed to the four existing deals.
The committee’s report estimates the cost of funding an essential medicines list at between $6 and $10 billion a year, but said it anticipates savings from competitive drug purchasing processes and from existing coverage that would put the added cost at around $3 billion a year.
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