It is “absolutely possible” that the federal government will sign pharmaceutical deals with all provinces by the spring, Health Minister Mark Holland said on Friday.
“I’m not saying this will be easy,” Holland said at the meeting of G7 health ministers in Ancona, Italy. “It was incredibly difficult to get this bill passed in the House of Representatives and through the Senate.”
Bill C-64, which lays the groundwork for a universal pharmaceutical plan, was passed by the Senate on Thursday evening and received royal assent shortly afterwards, making it law.
The legislation allows the government to enter into agreements with provinces and territories to cover diabetes and contraceptives 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 will support Canadians and take the pressure off their household budgets as quickly as possible,” Trudeau told reporters Friday as he completed a visit. at the top of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Laos.
Holland said discussions with provinces are ongoing and “very positive” and that 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 future Conservative government doesn’t abolish the program is to ensure these deals are done without delay.
“This bill has been passed. Now we want to get deals signed, so our focus is on forcing this Liberal government to get those deals signed,” he said in Ottawa on Friday.
Asked if his party is willing to support the Liberals in the House of Representatives on the issue of confidence until all these agreements are signed, Singh said: “If it is a bill or motion, we will look at it and make a decision. [on] what is in the best interests of the people.”
‘The Canadian people want it done’: Netherlands
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 part of their offer-and-confidence agreement.
At the time, LaGrange said Alberta already has “robust” drug coverage through programs like Alberta Blue Cross, and that he would prefer to see Ottawa provide per capita funding to Alberta to strengthen its own program.
“Give us the dollars,” LaGrange said. “Allow us to improve the programs we have now, instead of creating more bureaucracy.”
Holland said 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 can talk a lot about what we have in common and what we can accomplish together,” he said.
“And I think with that spirit it is absolutely possible to get this done and I think the Canadian people want it done because I think we all understand that this gap in our health care system needs to be closed.”
Holland said there may be disagreements between the federal government and the provinces on how medications should be provided to people, but everyone agrees that Canadians need diabetes medications and contraceptives.
The federal government has already signed a memorandum of understanding with British Columbia, which Holland said outlines the broad outlines of a future deal, without providing any specifics.
“The memorandum of understanding with British Columbia was really essential, very important,” Holland said. “It helped the Senate see exactly how these deals could live and it helped Canadians understand how they could live.”
In BC, the provincial government already covers oral contraceptives, so federal funding for those products will instead be used to cover hormone therapy for women.
The first step in a broader pharmaceutical regimen
The Medicines Act is intended as the first step in a broader pharmaceutical care regime that will be expanded to other medicines in the coming years.
Canadians will go to the polls sometime within a year, and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has spoken out against the proposed universal single-payer drug plan.
In an interview on CP24 Friday, he said pharmaceuticals will result in union workers losing drug coverage negotiated on their behalf.
“If you are a union worker whose union negotiated a drug plan for you, then in the long run this bill seeks to eliminate that plan and force you into a government plan,” he said.
Poilievre said that if elected prime minister, he “will not have a single-payer system that prohibits you, union workers and countless other people from keeping the excellent private plans they already have.”
Singh rejected that criticism on Friday, saying Poilievre’s comments show the Conservative leader has “no idea what unions actually do.”
“The unions are very supportive of this,” Singh said. “Employees are very supportive of this because they know it is incredibly expensive to have to negotiate for medical benefits, including prescription drug coverage, at the bargaining table.
“They would like to see this taken off their plate and that money used for better wages, better wages or other benefits.”
Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, supports pharmacy 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 incorporated into collective bargaining agreements,” Unifor national president Lana Payne said in a media statement.
“Politicians who make false claims that union members will lose access to their reporting 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 ensure negotiations between the provinces and the federal government are well-informed.
“Pharmacists are the ones who know the needs of patients,” Joelle Walker, spokesperson for the Canadian Pharmacists Association, told CBC News. “They are dealing with public and private drug schemes.”
“So they really need to be involved in the rollout of this to make sure that it actually achieves the results that everyone is looking for and that it 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 pharmaceutical program will cost, and that the final price will be determined after negotiations with the provinces and territories.
When pressed, Holland estimated the cost of providing diabetes medications and birth control at $1.5 billion.