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.
New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh says if the Liberal government does not introduce and pass a pharmacare bill in the House of Commons this year, he will consider it a deal-breaker.
The biggest extension to health care by far in this budget was a national dental care program. This went from obscurity to policy in a matter of months due to its inclusion in the Liberal-NDP agreement.
The federal Liberals are set to unveil their latest spending plan today, April 7, 2022, that aims to balance promises made to voters in last year's election campaign, in the pact with the NDP, and recently to Canada's global defence allies.
The NDP is watching to see that spending pledges made in a deal with the Liberals are honoured by the government in this week's federal budget, says a finance spokesman.
The spirit of collaboration the new Liberal-NDP deal brings to politics is encouraging, but aside from the pledge to provide dental care to low-income Canadians, it lacks ambition and won’t bring about the “transformational change we need,” said Green Party interim leader Amita Kuttner.
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.
