After dire warnings from NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and others, health critic Don Davies, shown with Singh in 2023, said Thursday he is hopeful his party can reach a deal on pharmacare with the governing Liberals by March 1.The NDP’s lead negotiator in the pharmacare talks with the minority Liberals said Thursday he’s optimistic his party will be able to strike a deal with the government on new legislation and funding for essential medicines.
Legislation to create a universal, national pharmacare program was a key pledge granted to the NDP by the minority government when the two sides struck what’s called a supply and confidence agreement to keep the Liberals in power until 2025. Mr. Singh has repeatedly warned that the entire deal to prop up the government would be scuttled if the Liberals don’t acquiesce to his party’s demands and he has been skeptical an agreement could be reached. His top adviser, Anne McGrath, piled on to the pessimism Wednesday, telling CTV News that the talks were “not very promising at the moment.”Twenty-four hours later, Mr. Davies had a very different outlook. He said the two sides are ”working well together” and have “made a lot of progress.
The Globe is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to discuss the sensitive negotiations. “We’ve always said that we accept an incremental approach,” he said. “Starting with classes of drugs, and getting that paid through the single-payer system, I think would be really exciting. And it would be historic.”
Mr. Davies said how the program would be funded hasn’t been determined, but one option is that instead of paying premiums to private insurance companies, Canadians would pay a pharmacare levy to the federal government.
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