The chief of a northwestern Ontario reserve —and an NDP candidate in this fall's federal election — is calling on Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O'Regan to sit down to hammer out an agreement on a long-promised treatment facility for mercury poisoning.

The federal government is overhauling the way it regulates the cost of patented medicines, including ending comparisons to the United States — changes that Canada's health minister is billing as the biggest step towards lower drug prices in a generation.

Canadians will continue to have access to the medications they need, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised on Thursday, August 1, 2019, in the face of escalating worry about a Trump administration decision to allow prescription drug imports from Canada.

Federal officials say Ottawa was not consulted in advance about the details of a Trump administration proposal announced on Wednesday, July 31, 2019, aimed at allowing American patients and consumers to legally import cheaper prescription drugs from Canada.