NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party is getting close to giving the Liberals their final offer on a single-payer pharmacare plan as the negotiation deadline quickly approaches.
“We’re getting very close to a final position, and when we submit our final position on this, that will be it,” Singh told reporters at a press conference in Coquitlam, B.C., on Friday.
“Then the Liberals will have to decide whose side are they on. Are they on the big pharma-billionaires who are ripping off Canadians or are they on families, the side of workers, the side of women, the side of people who need medication covered? We’ll see.”
The two parties are working toward a March 1 deadline to introduce a legislative framework on a universal pharmacare plan.
The initial deadline was the end of 2023, but it was extended to March 1 in December.
An estimate from the parliamentary budget officer pegged the cost of a single-payer pharmacare program at $38.9 billion over the next four years.
Earlier this week, the NDP leader said he doesn’t expect money to be flowing immediately but wants to see legislation that lays the “foundation” for a deal.
Singh says that if the deadline is missed he will consider the confidence and supply agreement the NDP has to support the Liberals on key votes in exchange for advancing legislative priorities like pharmacare broken.
“They should take it very seriously when we say if they break their agreement, they will no longer be able to count on support, and they will no longer be able to count on any of our votes,” Singh said. He has said the NDP will instead weigh support on vote-by-vote matters.
Part of that final offer will include a pitch for national, universal coverage of birth control. Singh said that the B.C. NDP government introduced single-payer contraception last year and he sees no reason it can’t be expanded nationally.
Singh says that this would include birth control methods like medication, intrauterine devices (IUDs) and emergency contraception.
“It’s something we’ve seen a lot of worry around, the back-stepping and the erosion of a woman’s right to choose, out people’s ability to control their own body,” Singh said pointing to some states enacting abortion bans in the U.S. since the fall of Roe.
“This is about ensuring that we don’t just say that people have the right to do what they want with their body, that we back that right up with a concrete step to tearing down the barriers that prevent some people from accessing contraception.”
Hormonal IUDs typically cost around $500 without insurance. The arm implant costs roughly $350 while birth control pills can cost anywhere between $25 to $40 per month, plus any pharmacist or service fees for the prescription or dispensing.
Singh says they are pushing for other types of medication to be prioritized in the gradual implementation of a pharmacare program but isn’t ready to name them as negotiations with the Liberals.
In a statement, Health Minister Mark Holland’s office says they continue to work toward the deadline.
“No Canadian should have to choose between the prescription drugs they need and putting food on the table. We continue to negotiate and have productive conversations on pharmacare as we work towards the March 1st deadline,” the statement reads.
— With files from Global News’ Touria Izri
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