national pharmacare

As Liberals and New Democrats negotiate what a future national drug plan should look like, a new survey suggests pharmacare is not at the top of the priority list for most Canadians.

The federal New Democrats plan to make pharmacare a central issue in the next election if the Liberals do not meet the bar the opposition party has set for legislation to reduce the cost of prescription drugs.

Big Pharma has stepped up its lobbying game ever since the federal NDP struck a deal to prop up the Liberals’ minority government contingent on several big-ticket items — including progress on national pharmacare.

With the budget on the horizon, we won’t have long to wait to see if the fine print matches the expectations.

NDP and Liberal MPs were generally upbeat about the idea of working together as the dust began to settle following the unexpected announcement that their party leaders had reached a deal to keep the Liberal government going for another three years.

Quebec Premier François Legault is warning that the new alliance between the federal Liberals and the NDP is going to trigger a confrontation with the provinces, particularly around health care.

The Liberals and New Democrats have reached a tentative deal to keep the Liberal minority government in power through to 2025, media reports say.

Canada’s National Observer asked federal Green Party Leader Annamie Paul about hot-button issues in the upcoming election, and what Canada needs to focus on to tackle the climate crisis.

In an oped for National Observer, Jagmeet Singh said Canadian voters "have a choice. New Democrats will stop the Conservatives from forming government on Oct. 21 by winning seats all over the country."

The federal Liberal government is promising a new agency to negotiate prescription drug prices for Canadians and try to drive down costs — a move billed as an "important step" on the path to an eventual national pharmacare plan.

Health and labour groups are calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to remove Finance Minister Bill Morneau from the government's national pharmacare file over comments he made about the freshly launched effort to explore the issue.