Liberals are being ‘dishonest’ about future of pharmacare, NDP says

NDP interim leader Don Davies said the government's response to a commissioned report on the program was 'shockingly dismissive,' and the health minister has not committed to act.

The federal government’s response to a report it commissioned on national pharmacare was “shockingly dismissive,” NDP interim leader Don Davies said this week as he called on the Liberals to come clean on their plans for the program.

“I think it’s politically dishonest,” he said in an interview.

Davies was involved in the negotiations that brought forward the Pharmacare Act last year.

The law, which passed just over a year ago, was a key part of the supply-and-confidence deal between the NDP and Liberals under former prime minister Justin Trudeau.

It required the government to set up a committee of experts to recommend the best way to create a universal, single-payer pharmacare system.

That committee reported to Health Minister Marjorie Michel in October and its report was made public last month.

The report called on Ottawa to fully fund a list of essential medications that would cover more than 90 per cent of prescriptions in Canada, and set up an independent body to manage that list. The system would allow individuals to get their prescriptions at no cost using their health card.

The expert committee said the proposed model would avoid the pitfalls of working through lengthy negotiations on bilateral funding deals with the provinces and territories.