NDP to campaign on pharmacare if it backs out of Liberal deal

The federal New Democrats are urging the party to make pharmacare a central issue in the next election should the Liberals fail to meet the bar set by the opposition party to reduce the cost of prescription drugs.

The confidence-and-supply deal that has the NDP supporting the minority Liberals on key votes in the House of Commons, says that the government will introduce a bill to create a framework for national pharmacare this year.

At the party’s annual convention in Hamilton this past weekend, the party passed an emergency resolution that the party should withdraw its support should the Liberals not commit to “”a universal, comprehensive and entirely public pharmacare program.”

The NDP’s national director Anne McGrath said getting a bill with potential to pass will be her party’s highest priority as parliamentarians return to the House of Commons this week.

Should the NDP walk away from the deal over the issue, McGrath said “”Pharmacare will be a ballot-box issue.”

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“We will build a Canada where we take care of each other. A Canada where we all rise together,” said Jagmeet Singh, who received an 81 per cent confidence vote from delegates, down from the 87 per cent he received in 2021.

Singh and his caucus additionally threw their support behind the non-binding resolution on universal pharmacare, a topic that has dominated the convention floor.

“Weak legislation is not going to be acceptable to New Democrats,” McGrath said.

“It has to be strong. It has to have teeth. And I feel like that resolution gave Jagmeet and the caucus a lot of bargaining power. It gives them a lot of strength.”

However, even if a bill is introduced by December, it is unclear when a program could be operational — and when Canadians could begin to save money when filling out their prescriptions.

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The NDP’s health critic, Don Davies, said pulling out of the deal does not mean the party will push to trigger an election, but instead would consider whether to support Liberal legislation one vote at a time.

The agreement between the Liberals and NDP, which has 25 MPs, entered into in March 2022 would see the opposition party support the minority government, and avoid triggering an election, until Parliament rises for the summer break in June 2025.

In exchange, the Liberals have promised to take action on a list of shared priorities — including pharmacare.

New Democrats, who have long campaigned to make universal access to prescription drugs part of the public health-care system, believe that pharmacare is an issue that separates them from the Liberals.

The Liberals campaigned on a promise to implement a national pharmacare program in the 2019 election, but made no such pledge when they went back to the polls in 2021.

This report was created with files from The Canadian Press 

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