Health minister says he's on track to strike pharmacare deals with provinces by spring
Mark Holland says government 'is in a position where we can announce deals in the near future'
It "absolutely is possible" for the federal government to strike pharmacare agreements with all the provinces by the spring, Health Minister Mark Holland said Friday.
"I'm not saying this is going to be easy," Holland said from the G7 health ministers' meeting in Ancona, Italy. "Getting this bill adopted in the House and getting it through the Senate was incredibly difficult."
Bill C-64, which lays the foundation for a universal pharmacare plan, passed the Senate Thursday evening and received royal assent shortly afterward, making it law.
The legislation allows the government to strike deals with provinces and territories to cover diabetes and birth-control medications as part of the public health system.
"This is real progress, but now we need the provinces and territories to come to the table and sign agreements with us that supports Canadians and takes pressure off their household budgets as soon as possible," Trudeau told reporters on Friday as he wrapped a visit to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Laos.
Holland said conversations with provinces are ongoing and "very positive" and his government "is in a position where we can announce deals in the near future."
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said the only way to ensure a possible a future Conservative government does not eliminate the program is to ensure those deals are struck without delay.
"This bill is passed. Now we want to see deals signed, so our focus is on forcing this Liberal government to get those deals signed," he said in Ottawa Friday.
Asked if his party is prepared to support the Liberals in the House on confidence matters until all of those deals are signed, Singh said that "when it comes to any bill or motion, we will look at it and make a decision [on] what's in the best interests of people."
'The Canadian population wants it to get done': Holland
In February, Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said she was unhappy with the proposed bill, which was negotiated between the Liberals and the NDP as a part of their supply-and-confidence agreement.
At the time, LaGrange said Alberta already has "robust" coverage of medications through programs like Alberta Blue Cross, and would rather see Ottawa give Alberta per capita funding to bolster its own program.
"Give us the dollars," LaGrange said. "Allow us to enhance the programs we actually have now, rather than create more bureaucracy."
Holland said that despite the criticism, the spring timeline remains realistic, based on his working relationships with his provincial counterparts.
"I would say with [Health Minister] Everett Hindley in Saskatchewan or Adriana LaGrange that we're able to talk an enormous amount of what we have in common and what we can get done together," he said.
"And I think with that spirit, it absolutely is possible to get this done and I think the Canadian population wants it to get done, because I think we all understand that this gap in our health-care system must be closed."
Holland said there may be disagreements between the federal government and the provinces over how to provide medicines to people, but everyone agrees that Canadians need diabetes medication and contraceptives.
The federal government already has signed a memorandum of understanding with British Columbia, which Holland said outlines the broad strokes of a future deal without any details.
"The memorandum of understanding with British Columbia was really essential, very important," Holland said. "It helped the Senate see exactly how these deals might live and help Canadians understand how they might live."
In B.C., the provincial government already covers oral contraceptives, so federal funding for those products will instead be used to cover hormone therapy for women.
1st step in broader pharmacare regime
The Pharmacare Act is intended to be the first step in a broader pharmacare regime that will expand to include other medications in the years ahead.
Canadians are set to go to the polls sometime within the next year, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has come out against the proposed single-payer universal drug plan.
In an interview on CP24 Friday, he said pharmacare will result in union workers losing drug coverage that was negotiated on their behalf.
"If you are a union worker whose union has negotiated for you a drug plan, in the long run, this bill seeks to eliminate that plan and force you onto a government plan," he said.
Poilievre said if he is elected prime minister, he is "not going to have a single payer system that bans you and union workers and countless other people from keeping the excellent private plans they already have."
Singh dismissed that criticism Friday, saying Poilievre's remarks show the Conservative leader "has no idea what unions actually do."
"Unions are very much in favour of this," Singh said. "Workers are very much in favour of this because they know that having to negotiate medical benefits that include drug coverage at the negotiating table is incredibly costly.
"They would love to have this taken off their plate and use that money for better pay, better wages or other benefits."
Unifor, Canada's largest private-sector union, supports the pharmacare plan and has said it will provide coverage that improves people's lives.
"In unionized environments, benefit plans, including drug coverage, are negotiated with the union and are covered in the workers' collective agreements," Unifor national president Lana Payne said in a media statement.
"Politicians making false claims that union members will lose access to their coverage are simply wrong."
The Canadian Pharmacists Association said Friday that the best way to ensure no Canadian experiences a loss of drug coverage is to make sure the negotiations between the provinces and the federal government are well informed.
"Pharmacists are the ones who know patient needs," Joelle Walker, a spokesperson for the Canadian Pharmacists Association, told CBC News. "They're dealing with public and private drug plans."
"So they really need to be involved in the roll out of this to make sure that it actually achieves the outcomes that everyone's looking for and works best for patients in each of the different provinces."
In February, federal officials told reporters in a background briefing that the government does not know how much this first phase of the pharmacare program will cost, and the final price will be determined following negotiations with the provinces and territories.
When pressed, Holland estimated the cost of providing diabetes medications and contraception at $1.5 billion.
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