NDP convention could see emergency resolution on pharmacare
Global News
The agreement has the NDP supporting the minority Liberals on key votes in exchange for progress on shared priorities, including pharmacare.
A group of grassroots NDP activists is planning to push for pharmacare to be a make-or-break element of the federal party’s supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals at a policy convention next week.
The agreement has the NDP supporting the minority Liberals on key votes in exchange for progress on shared priorities, including pharmacare.
The activists are submitting an emergency resolution to declare that the future of the deal is contingent on legislation that commits to a universal and entirely public pharmacare program, which they hope will be debated on the convention floor in Hamilton.
The group, called Stand Strong For Pharmacare, launched a website for delegates to encourage them to take a strong stance on the policy and hold the Liberals to their agreement.
“Our NDP convention resolution would make it clear that if (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau breaks his promise for universal, comprehensive, and public pharmacare, it will have consequences,” the website states.
The resolution comes after NDP health critic Don Davies revealed that the party rejected the Liberal government’s first draft of a pharmacare bill that is expected to be tabled this fall.
“It doesn’t meet the New Democrats’ red lines at this point,” Davies said in an interview this week. “We’re waiting for a next draft to come to us.”
Davies said the NDP will accept nothing less than a commitment to pharmacare paid for and administered through the public single-payer system