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OTTAWA-Prime Minister Mark Carney’s silence on Ottawa’s outstanding pharmacare deals with provinces and territories — including Ontario — have health experts questioning why the issue no longer appears to be a priority for a Liberal government that campaigned on protecting the policy.
At a news conference in Fredericton last week, when asked how much of a priority it was for Ottawa to strike a deal with New Brunswick, federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel told reporters Canada has “a new government” and that the country is “in a new context.”
Michel’s office has said that the federal government will be moving forward with implementing the four deals it has already signed with British Columbia, Prince Edward Island Yukon, and Manitoba.
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But the minister was noncommittal on the fate of deals with the remaining provinces and territories that have said they are open to reaching agreements.
“Universal, accessible and publicly funded health care is a point of pride for Canadians and it underpins our economic strength. Our new government is discussing with our provincial and territorial partners how we can support them for better health outcomes for Canadians,” said a statement from Michel’s office.
“This is the time for the government to move forward. I mean, let’s remember pharmacare and dental care and other health care measures were central to the Liberal (election) campaign,” said Steven Staples, the national director of policy for the Canadian Health Coalition.
“It’s why Canadians voted for them, because they were unsure if the Conservatives would continue to expand the program.”
Premier Doug Ford’s government says Ontario has not received any details about Ottawa’s plans for a deal since Justin Trudeau’s Liberals passed legislation last fall promising to cover diabetes and birth control drugs and devices for Canadians, before laying out a plan for wider government-paid drug coverage later.
“We remain prepared to work collaboratively with the federal government to reach a deal that benefits Ontario families,” a spokesperson for Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones wrote.
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Federal departments are currently reviewing which programs could be on the chopping block as Carney looks to find billions of dollars in savings.
The Trudeau government introduced its pharmacare bill in early 2024 after months of negotiations with its governing partner, the federal New Democrats.
While the bill was primarily aimed at covering two classes of drugs through agreements with provinces, it also sought to lay out a framework for a more universal, single-payer system that would eventually replace Canada’s patchwork of private and public coverage plans.
In the lead-up to the federal campaign, then-health minister Mark Holland raced to ink deals, but had only struck preliminary agreements with three provinces and one territory when the election was called.
During the campaign, the Liberals promised to “protect dental care and pharmacare,” noting that the programs were “key parts of a strong public health care system that (Conservative Leader) Pierre Poilievre would cut.”
Carney did not say whether he would commit to expanding pharmacare into the universal system it was initially envisioned to be, while Poilievre suggested he would not completely abandon the program but did not explain how he would maintain it.
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NDP interim leader Don Davies, who worked with the Liberals to shape the legislation, told the Star Wednesday that the Carney government’s failure to commit to swiftly drafting the rest of the deals suggests that the prime minister has “deceived” Canadians.
Davies also said the government’s silence on the issue does little to bolster Ottawa’s intergovernmental relations because it already set aside $1.5 billion over five years to support the creation of a nationwide pharmacare plan in tandem with provinces.
“Now you’ve got some provinces that, through just sheer timing, manage to get agreements with the feds and other provinces don’t,” Davies said.
Staples said that provinces like Ontario are now frozen out of the same types of coverage others in the country will be receiving.
Currently, eligible Ontarians receive degrees of drug coverage through the Ontario Drug Benefit, OHIP+, and the Trillium Drug Program.
But Dr. Danyaal Raza, a Toronto-based family physician and former chair of Canadian Doctors for Medicare, said there are gaps in the province’s plans, which a federal deal would take steps toward closing.
“If we’re even unwilling to take this marginal, incremental step forward, then I think … it’s an indictment of how low a priority governments are putting on this issue,” said Raza, who said Ottawa’s current lack of enthusiasm is “confusing and disappointing.”
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