Prime Minister Mark Carney said Ottawa is determined to reach agreements with outstanding provinces ‘as quickly and as equitably as possible.’AMBER BRACKEN/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney says the government will sign agreements with provinces and territories that have yet to ink deals for public coverage of some diabetes medications and supplies, as well as contraceptives.
Mr. Carney’s comments on Thursday in Edmonton, where he has been meeting with his caucus ahead of Parliament’s fall sitting, marked the first time that the Prime Minister has explicitly committed to additional pharmacare agreements.
In recent weeks, the government has faced mounting pressure, including from advocates and the former chair of an advisory council on pharmacare, to negotiate new deals.
On Tuesday, a group of demonstrators gathered outside the hotel where Liberal MPs were meeting to call on Ottawa to negotiate further bilateral deals.
Pharmacare law cannot be implemented in inequitable way, former advisory council chair says
Before this spring’s election campaign, Manitoba, B.C., Prince Edward Island and Yukon all signed pharmacare agreements with Ottawa.
“We are committed to keeping the project,” Mr. Carney said Thursday to reporters, adding that Ottawa is determined to reach agreements with outstanding provinces “as quickly and as equitably as possible.”
Mr. Carney also said the country is in a difficult budgetary period.
“These are tough times. We have to take some tough decisions,” he said. “But one of the core reasons why we’re taking tough decisions is for affordability and security for Canadians.”
Mr. Carney said this means, for example, ensuring financial support for dental benefits and pharmacare agreements because they “make a huge difference to many people’s lives.”
Federal government reaches first pharmacare agreement with Manitoba
Earlier this week, a medical doctor who chaired an advisory council that reported on the implementation of pharmacare in 2019, called on the government to negotiate deals with jurisdictions that do not yet have an agreement.
Eric Hoskins, a former Ontario health minister, told The Globe and Mail that the country’s pharmacare law, which passed last October, cannot be implemented in an unfair and inequitable way.
Recently, federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel told online publication iPolitics that the government was in a “very special context,” in reference to the trade war spurred by the U.S. On pharmacare, the minister said “everything is still on the table” and the government is “tracking” agreements that have been already reached.
Dr. Hoskins said that it is not necessary to conduct further study and that it’s clear that patients who have their life-saving diabetes medications covered will benefit from not having to pay out of pocket.