We’re going to start on that pharmacare deal because after weeks of talks the Liberals and new Democrats have come to an agreement on draft legislation that sets out the framework for a national pharmacare program in the short term the deal will also provide new coverage for
Some key drugs I’m joined now by the cbc’s chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton so Rosie what do we know what’s in this deal well I mean the big piece that you said is that there will be a draft framework of legislation that could be tabled as early as this coming
Week that would sort of lay out the blueprint for what the future of national pharmacare could look like in this country and in the interim while we wait to see how long that would take and what the commitment is to that uh the government has agreed uh to cover two
Two pieces two classes of drugs if you will diabetes so it’d be a variety of medications under that uh description and contraception and same thing there a variety of different kinds of contraception and those would be available to all Canadians whether you have insurance or not uh and they would
Be for free so that is a significant first step towards National pharmacare it is we are the only country that has a universal healthc CARE program but no pharmacare program so this is the beginning of something and for the NDP uh and the leader of the NDP it was
Enough to say okay we’re going to stick around we’re going to hang on to this deal a little longer because remember David the original agreement didn’t have money associated with it and it wasn’t going to go quite this far so the NDP agreed to delay um to to go along with
The Liberals And Delay the uh getting to this point in order to extract a little bit more here’s Mr Singh and what he told me earlier today about some of the details we have got a confirmation in the legislation of language on single-payer specifically single paay Universal public we’ve got commitments
To language specifically that reference the Canada Health Act and the Canada Health Act is very important because the principles in the Canada Health act are very much in line with a single paay Universal so we’ve got that commitment in the legislation and like you’ve mentioned and like I’ve mentioned beyond
The actual legislation we now have concrete commit M on two classes of drugs to be covered using a single-payer model that Single Payer model is a is a big deal because it is something the government the Liberals in particular have talked about for years and years and years and really shied away from
Because of the cost associated with it tens of billions of dollars we’re talking about here the fact that they are willing to look at it to put the framework there and to cover those two big classes of drugs um really does show a shift and and potentially a shift that
Will be helpful and and useful for many Canadians right cuz there’s supposed to have legislation in place by the end of last year and they’ve delayed it until now and they get the the contraception and diabetes drugs covered as a result of that so what happens next I I mean
This is not you don’t just snap your fingers and have this done no it’s it’s it’s a little bit more complicated than that because it is going to be some sort of shared cost um with provinces so uh you and I were talking before the daycare probably is a good example what
Will the provinces be able to pick up when it comes to these shared costs and then there are a couple of provinces that have been moving in this Direction British Columbia Manitoba already moving to cover contraception what will they do will they just pull back on that and
Then take what the federal government and then of course you know the federal government one of the benefits people had been saying is that the federal government will be the sole buyer the sole purchaser that should make the cost of those drugs go down and would you
Would also then I think turn to drug companies and insurance companies and say okay well if the federal government’s picking up these costs will our premiums go down to other people as well so there’s lots of moving Parts still on this um but of course the other
Big thing that it does is it preserves the uh Supply and confidence agreement it means that the government can breathe a little sigh of relief here and so can the NDP there’ll be no election imminently and it provides what this deal was supposed to do which is provide
A little more stability for the government to move forward with its broader agenda okay Rosie thank you so much all right we’re going to talk about this with the Friday power panel the cbc’s Jason marof is with us today as is Kelly cryderman she’s with the glob and
Mail Negan Sinclair is a columnist for the wpeg Free Press and Rob Russo is the former CBC parliamentary bureau chief uh happy Friday gang uh nean our long National nightmare is over the supplying confidence are going survive because of this uh but you know that key tangible
Deliverables that the NDP got out of this in contraception and diabetes coverage what do you make of this news today uh every single person in this country is touched touched upon by diabetes and as somebody speaking of someone who has a teenager in their life I mean I think this is something that’s
Going to touch upon a lot of different people in the country almost every single one uh now the question is is whether this will carry votes will this have any impact in the National political scene and both of these parties need a win very badly and we’ve
Been talking about that for weeks uh the hope is that that is that this deal will bring attention uh which it has the hope is will it be remembered on Monday and will it be remembered when people go to this single paay system and are able to get those things that are needed
Especially in some of the V voter demographics that the NDP needs uh those are people who are perhaps on the lower end of the spectrum that need some financial assistance and for the Liberals they’re looking at the middle class and getting sign of that area in
Which they can see maybe those who have been impacted by diabetes and so on that need that kind of attention I guess it’ll be the question is let’s open the newspapers and watch the TV on Monday whether they see whether this will have impact or not well we we click on
Newspapers now and he gone come on now right you know so but you know still get it delivered I do too actually I get Saturday papers uh uh but but you know Rob um this we’re going to see the legislation I believe Thursday uh what we’re told is to Envision that this will
Be a cost share that they will have the negotiate deals the federal government will with the provincial government uh but you know it is a tangible move on a key priority for jug meet Singh so so is this a win for the NDP today to get this
Through yeah I I think it is I I think that the negotiations were more difficult than a lot of people were letting on uh some people called them quite tortured um and it’s foundational uh in in that it lays um cornerstones for the expansion of this at some point
I think it’s a clever political uh agreement in in that um it it goes after uh people who vote it goes after people like me who uh are dying their hair to enhance their dignity and might be of a certain age uh and uh they vote they
Turn out to vote and it also uh goes after women who have been going away from Progressive parties towards the conservatives uh and I think that it’s set up as a kind of a wedge to try and uh with contraceptives by um by targeting social conservatives to see if
They’re uncomfortable with this as well so it’s a clever political document uh we’ll we’ll see if it actually achieves that purpose but in the meantime in terms of its actual impact on people I think it’s important yeah I mean uh where I come from type two diabetes is
Endemic and you know a lot of chronic diseases in Atlantic Canada for people with low incomes and Kelly I wonder if this is up and running because this gives them the 18-month Runway to the election should should they want to take it and they can negotiate these deals
With the provinces like they’ve done with child care and other things it locks something in place with a cost that people will be getting by the next election when the main rival for government from the Liberals are talking about cutting cost R only back spending and and fixing the budget potentially
Creating a tension point there yeah there’s there’s a political virtue here and there’s a policy virtue here I think you know contraception touches a lot of people’s lives too whether they think about it or not and I think it is a win on that front to make it more widely
Available and at no cost and and I think there’s a virtue in this in terms of a win for the Canadian public as well in that this was a condition of this agreement going forward but I think there were big question questions about the costs and the implication of
Implementing it wholesale at this point at a cost of you know anywhere between 10 and 15 billion dollars worth when we do have budgetary issues in this this country we do have a lot of other pressing priorities and I think it it is it’s a good compromise in that respect
As well it also sets up a situation maybe not today but at some point where the PO of concern cons aives will have to answer on this and say what they think I also think it sets up an interesting Dynamic uh again for another discussion between Ottawa and the
Provinces I think uh you know whether provinces are uh indifferent to this or don’t want to take on other costs and I can see that in my own Province not knowing exactly what will be said yet um is an interesting question obviously they’re going to have some provinces on
Board right away but you know this model of discussing things with provinces I wish uh it would be carried forward to a lot of issues including on climate and energy yeah well well Jason Daniel Smith and Justin trudo are due for a meeting as we learned this week so maybe they
Can talk about this when they get together there I I think a lot we we we don’t yet know the cost and the the full details of of what drugs and treatments will be covered I think you’re going to see it modeled he heavily after what’s in British Columbia that’s at least the
Early indications we’re getting so like wob Cano and David eie no problem with this it’s saves them money uh by by bringing the federal role into the areas they’re already covering how do you think the other provinces might might react to this some of them might react uh you know unfavorably to this
Especially if it impos the cost on I mean I think the thing that gave um gave some of the Premier Comfort on the daycare childcare deal was that uh they didn’t have to put in much of anything um so I think if I think that could set
The standard for it I know that um when the Alberta NDP proposed um making uh uh contraceptive care Universal the Alberta uh UCP and Daniel Smith said like the privates already cover this mostly most people are covered by that I’m not sure how many people are unaffected well I
Think I don’t have the numbers but um and I think I think that because we’re a dude heavy panel today I think it’s worth saying that um while all it’s enough who are affected I would say yeah it’s everybody’s affected but but but let’s face it it’s women who pay for
This it’s not men who are paying who are buying iuds off absolutely it’s so the economic cost is born by women so uh it does matter to everybody and especially will it’ll matter to uh to women of course people who with uh with you know who suffer from diabetes will uh you
Know be feeling this very carefully I mean this is just yet another challenge in terms of POV um you know the what will you cut um chorus I’m sure will uh be queued up uh pretty quickly by the uh by the progressive parties um and that goes daycare Dental Care Now pharmacare
Um you know child benefit um that’s going to be uh the chorus be loud and it’s going to give uh you know if if p POV is serious about trying to get to a balanced budget um fewer and fewer uh areas to uh to navigate yeah so so on
That um nean on the potential you know wedge of all of this right and look it’s important for people with diabetes to be able to get the care they need you know we spoke to a woman from Calgary this week you know who if not for her job at
Good Life uh would have to spend more than $5,000 every couple of months to get medication like this is a real burden for people you know in vulnerable economic positions but politically the the Liberals in particular are trying to cast the next election as a choice between all of these things we’ve built
Versus all of the things they will cut you know is the binary they’re trying to put out there C does this help them in that where does jug meet Singh fit into this how do you see it neon uh we just listed off a sort of laundry list of the major
Accomplishments of the supply and confidence agreement and uh the I I wasn’t surprised at all to see Jag me with saying wanting to claim the victory over this this uh but when it comes down to the Electoral the election the elections the Electoral promises that are made it’s going to be the Liberals
That will try to take the lon share of this attention on this issue and say we got this done we got these these Litany of things done and and we are the people who are the social looking out for the kind of social isms of the country the
Kind of healthcare the kind of care for everybody concerned whereas the big bad conservatives are going to be the ones that are only going to look after their friends and so on and so forth I mean I think the conversation around the premieres is going to be very
Interesting over the next uh I think 18 months might be optimistic but uh when when we’re really talking about how that conversation is going to go with Daniel Smith how is it going to go with Ford how is it going to go with Quebec you
Know how are we going to go uh to be able to negotiate these things I mean no Premier turns down money but Premier absolutely turned down opportunities to share attention with Trudeau and so I wonder which will be more attractive politically for any of those Premier to
Be able to turn and turn down what is going to be a rather favorable uh a favorable thing that the Trudeau government can say we got accomplished in our time uh Rob just on sort of the credit for all of this you know the new Democrats were out doing interviews
About it Mr Singh speaking to to Rosie in particular um I I think they were talking to reporters about this when word leaked out before even giving the official confirmation to the Liberals that yes you have a deal I think the Liberals felt they had it but I think
They found out when all the story started to break that yeah it’s officially done I mean the NDP really want uh to be in the spotlight on this one and I and I think that they can claim credit with with some justification the the Liberals have
Mentioned this in the past as as they’ve mentioned pharmacare but really they they’ve been kind of shoved in into this corner uh but it also tells us David we are getting closer to the time when they somebody is going to have to set the terms for the divorce between these two
It’s going to come it has to come be before the next campaign uh and and I I’ll be watching for that that there are discussions about the next budget that are happening right now as well the the NDP wants some stuff on housing yeah in
The budget uh and uh I I don’t think that this is going to be when the divorce happens but but look for uh them kind of staking their grounds as as they get ready to go their separate ways uh and and head towards Divorce Court which
Is going to happen the next six months to here so so Kelly how does how does that work in the custody battles uh the NDP gets diabetes the Liberals get contraception you know who Dental Care is joint custody uh you know how do you think this plays out uh politically on
This in terms of jug meing justifying the value of the supply and confidence agreement because they they were supposed to get this done in December and what the new Democrats are saying now is by waiting until now that’s when they got the the immediate coverage of these specific classes of drugs put into
The agreement and and they’re stacking that on top of dental carees as their big wins from this but by waiting they also got this agreement to continue so that that’s the key part of all of this and I I think you know uh I’d love to be part of those
Uh mediation sessions between the NDP and the Liberals when they’re divvying all this up I think they will both obviously try to claim credit for it and I think you know there despite this being a mostly a win for the NDP I think there is a risk still that they have
Hitched their wagons to the Liberals for a longer period of time getting closer to an election and that you know their their polling numbers which are somewhere stuck somewhere around 20% stay stuck because they are seen seen as a arm of the liberal party and I think
That is uh you know that will be a really delicate dance for jug meet Singh and the NDP in terms of how they distinguish themselves from a party where you know not only have they worked together but they’re in agreement on a number of issues ideologically including their opposition to the conservatives so
How do they extract themselves and differentiate themselves that’s the thing to watch well Jason I I for one am shocked that the two parties who are being outpull and out fundrais found a way to to keep their parliamentary Arrangement alive and push off an election but with this out of the way I
Mean we we talked about this a week ago Singh has been out publicly talking about this and threatening that March 1st could be a real click for this Arrangement what does he use now like this is done they’ve delivered what’s the leverage here now yeah I mean
They’ve you think of the the big wins they they wanted and got in this they got the anti- strike Breer legislation they got Dental Care um they’re getting this um I don’t know how uh how to the wall they’re going to go for their uh expansion of voting days and other uh
Minor electoral reform pieces U maybe it’s telling either of my ignorance or of the importance of it um what uh you know what the other major planks are uh that they have to go with how big their to-do list is I mean obviously pharmacare and dental care were the uh
Were the big ones um I think Kelly makes a really strong point about uh that we you know that they’re going to have to find these off-ramps that they’re not going to want to you know be be ar be linked arm in- arm um surely they’ll
Come into this election uh you know this next election with uh loudly broadcasting what they did and if they become and this is you know we’ve been come pretty close to this um the second place party in the polls they’ll be able to say uh you know vote us not liberal
Because we are as an opposition party to uh to Pierre PV will be fighting more strongly than they are for the things that you care about yeah and and when you look at the diabetes rates right across the country in a lot of marginalized populations and
And low income levels this is this this is something that will really make a big difference in a lot of populations and a lot of regions
The Liberals and New Democrats say they have reached a deal on pharmacare that will cover contraception and diabetes medication. CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton explains the details. Plus, the Power Panel weighs in.
»»» Subscribe to CBC News to watch more videos:
Connect with CBC News Online:
For breaking news, video, audio and in-depth coverage:
Follow CBC News on TikTok:
Follow CBC News on Twitter:
Find CBC News on Facebook:
Follow CBC News on Instagram:
Subscribe to CBC News on Snapchat:
Download the CBC News app for iOS:
Download the CBC News app for Android:
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
For more than 80 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.
How much? Where is the fund?
Doent matter.whqt Singh does now, the ndp have forever lost my vote.
again, we lack objective reporting- all verbal salad once again- This is not what the NDP said in 2023 what they were going to get. Just targeted NDP voters and women under 35. But of course, no explanation how this will carry out financially. There is already contraception programs in most provinces already.
this including dental care is amazing
The NDP had a chance in the next election by staying away from the Liberal Party and Trudeau. He Blow it, the NDP are going down now to. VOTE Poilievre -The Conservative Party of Canada
Good lets add another trillion dollars to the national debt instead of just getting rid of the useless carbon tax. Hey we are homeless and can't afford food but bring on the pills.
Free morning after pills for guys ??
Isnt health a provincial respondibility?
Our long national nightmare continues
Not what was promised.
18 months of horror
Throwing the lapdog a bone.
National pharmicare:
Well, NOW it definitely will affect all Canadians
Yes many people and kids have diabetes.
It isn't FREE
It will be paid by taxpayers 10s of billions of dollars estimated.
It will not the Federal Government the costs of the medications will go down!!!
Are you $hitting me, have you been paying attention to what the Liberals and NDP do with contractual agreements.
No provinces turn down being tied to the Federal Government regulating for them. Most provinces want their own autonomy.
Rosie implication that the Liberals have shown an openness to universal health care out of pure altruism, rather than the obvious motive of Trudeau kicking the can down the road is laughable.
Conservatives going to be putting up numbers like Reagan did in the 80's in the states next election.
yes Canadian celebrities will have their weight loss drugs paid for by the starving who are also now responsible for birth control… Well I guess they'll get their votes!
A virtue??? how sociopathic does it get? Anyone can tear this insane plan apart..just wait. Do you really think all those with real illnesses are going to cheer this on and vote for anyone responsible for it's insanity? How sick…
making healthy food affordable would help a lot to preventing the poor, you pretend to care about, from getting diabetes in the first place…rather than forcing them to eat cheap processed carbs which is causing the disease in the first place. So you really think pizza crust and ramen noodles 24/7 is healthy?
Buying votes with MY money again. Progressive is now synonymous with socialism.
for free??
Wow! They think Canadians don't see through this BS. NDP were never going to separate from Liberals – all a farce. Really? They were worried about the cost when such a huge majority of our money goes to foreign countries? No, this is not enough to have people vote their way. Hardly cancels out everything negative they have done to us!! And we all know that our taxes will increase yet again when hard working Canadians cannot even afford to feed themselves.