NDP leader Jagmeet Singh speaks at a health-care rally on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 13.PATRICK DOYLE/The Canadian Press
The Liberal minority government will lose its supply-and-confidence deal with the New Democrats if it doesn’t deliver a pharmacare bill that includes plans for a single-payer, universal system to cover prescription medications, New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh says.
At a Tuesday press conference on Parliament Hill, Mr. Singh made his strongest comments yet about what his party expects from the promised legislation. The bill is a key part of the agreement that the NDP struck with the government nearly two years ago to keep the Liberals in power. Through it, the NDP agreed to support the Liberals in the House of Commons until 2025 in exchange for policy concessions such as anti-scab legislation, dental care and pharmacare.
Under the original agreement, the government said it would pass a Canada Pharmacare Act by the end of 2023 as part of its progress toward a universal national program. However, the NDP granted the government an extension on that pledge, and the Liberals now only need to introduce the bill by March 1.
“If they don’t make this deadline again, then they would have broken the agreement,” Mr. Singh said, adding the NDP expects the pharmacare bill to include a legal framework and “it has to be single-payer, universal.”
The government relies on the supply-and-confidence deal with the NDP to ensure their policy agenda gets through the House of Commons and doesn’t get bogged down by Conservative delay tactics. For example, the NDP votes with the Liberals to shut down debate and force votes. If the deal is broken, Mr. Singh said his party would no longer provide such support, though he also said he wouldn’t necessarily force an election either. Instead, he would negotiate support for the government on a case-by-case basis.
Under a single-payer system, the government would pay for the entirety of a pharmacare program. But the Liberals have not yet committed to a single-payer system, which was recommended in 2019 by a pharmacare advisory council struck by the government.
Dr. Eric Hoskins, who chaired that council, is not part of the negotiations but has been in contact with both parties. He said Tuesday that the “two sides are not all that far apart” but an agreement will “require compromise on all sides.”
Health Minister Mark Holland was not on Parliament Hill Tuesday to respond to Mr. Singh. During an interview on CTV’s Question Period with Vassy Kapelos on Sunday, he said he was “not ideologically bound” to the legislation including a single-payer system.
His office would not say whether a single-payer system was an option for the Liberals. Mr. Holland’s spokesperson, Christopher Aoun, said the two parties “continue to negotiate and have productive conversations on pharmacare.”
However, Mr. Singh said based on his talks with the government, its not clear to him that there is progress. He said his meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week did not include “clear assurances that this would be resolved.”
Outside of their regular Tuesday cabinet meeting, Transport Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who is part of the oversight committee for the deal, said the Liberals are ready to table a pharmacare bill, and that it’s just down to negotiating the details.
“I’m confident we can get agreement,” he said.
Immigration Minister Marc Miller, however, suggested that the NDP have made some unreasonable requests during some negotiations, though he did not specify which ones he was referring to.
The Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated that once fully implemented a single-payer, universal pharmacare program would cost $38.9-billion. However, given how much is already spent in public plans and direct federal drug costs, the incremental additional cost of a universal program was estimated at $13.4-billion.
Last week Mr. Holland cautioned that the government “can’t afford this to be a massively expensive program.”
Mr. Singh said the Liberals fiscal concerns are disingenuous because the NDP doesn’t expect the program to be immediately funded. Still, he acknowledged that the legal framework would eventually require a fully funded program.
Bloc Leader Yves-François Blanchet said Tuesday that he hopes the deal is ripped up as of March 1, so that Parliament returns to functioning as a true minority, where the government needs to negotiate support for bills on a case-by-case basis.
The Liberal government is politically weaker than it was when it signed the deal with the NDP in 2022, and the New Democrats are now raising the stakes and asking for more to keep their support, said Karl Bélanger, president of Traxxion Stratégies and former NDP national director. He said the brinksmanship comes with risks because he doesn’t believe it’s in either party’s interest for their agreement to fall apart.