Cabinet must live to the letter of an agreement promising passage of a pharmacare bill by year’s end or renege on a vote deal, New Democrat leader Jagmeet Singh (Burnaby South, BC) said yesterday. His remarks follow a Department of Health memo that said “working” on a prescription drug bill, but not passing it by the end of 2023, was sufficient..“Pass it,” Singh told reporters. “It has got to be passed by the end of this year. That is just one step.”.“Is it a deal breaker?” asked a reporter. “It’s part of our agreement so if they didn’t do that they would be breaking the deal," Singh responded..Singh would not elaborate on whether he was prepared to withdraw 25 New Democrat caucus votes in support of cabinet budget bills, effectively dissolving the 44th Parliament. “We need to see,” he said..“According to what we forced the government to do, we want to see a national framework for pharmacare presented in Parliament and passed in Parliament by the end of the year,” said Singh. “This is the framework necessary to move forward with universal public pharmacare.”.New Democrats and Liberals last March 22 signed a Supply And Confidence Agreement to pool votes in the minority Parliament on condition that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pass a pharmacare bill by Dec. 31, 2023. No bill has yet been introduced. The health department in a December 14 briefing note acknowledged the promise, but said merely introducing a bill was sufficient..“The Government of Canada is committed to continue working with willing provinces and territories towards national pharmacare,” said the note. “This will include tabling a Canada pharmacare bill and working to have it passed by the end of 2023.”.Singh yesterday said anything short of the bill’s promised passage was unacceptable. “This is something we fought for in the agreement we negotiated,” he said..“We expect it to be there,” said Singh. “We are going to continue to fight hard to make sure that actually happens.”.“We want pharmacare to be achieved,” he said. “Our first goal will be to fight back to make sure we actually see that legislation passed so we can move forward with universal pharmacare in our country so people don’t have to worry about the cost of medication.”.New Democrats in the 2019 election campaign proposed taxpayer-funded coverage with a five-dollar user fee for patients who request brand name medications when generic substitutes are available. The Parliamentary Budget Office put costs of the program's cost at $10.5 billion per year..Liberals in 2017 voted 246 to 43 against a New Democrat motion to begin negotiations with provinces on universal drug coverage. Then-Health Minister Dr. Jane Philpott in 2016 testimony at the Commons health committee said pharmacare was too costly..“It sounds like it might be expensive,” said Philpott. “That’s one of the reasons we’re not in a position where we’re going to implement pharmacare. There are public drug plans across the country for people who can’t afford medication.”
