OTTAWA – Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said his party rejects the proposed national pharmacare plan, arguing it would force Canadians to give up their own private drug plans.
In the House of Commons Tuesday, as he debated a non-confidence motion in the Liberal government, Poilievre said the pharmacare plan was something he would not accept.
“I will reject the radical plan for an “single-payer” drug plan,” he said.
In the spring, the Conservatives voted against the pharmacare legislation, which is now in the Senate. Poilievre has been asked since the legislation passed the House of Commons if he would revoke the plan when in office.
He has previously told reporters the plan wasn’t in place and there was a result no program to end, but in the House on Tuesday he said he rejects a single-payer system because it would mean the end to private drug plans.
“By definition, that means all the private plans must be banned under the Liberal-NDP agenda, which they lay out in their wording in their pharmacare bill. They want to ban you from having a private drug plan with the hope and the promise that one day you might get a government plan,” he said.
Poilievre argued the LIberals’ housing plans have only succeeded in jacking up the cost of housing, their school food program has failed to deliver any lunches and he pointed the government has spent $67 million on a gun confiscation effort that has yet to confiscate a single gun.
He said given that track record, there is no reason to think the Liberals would do any better with pharmacare.
“These people cannot be trusted to run a lemonade stand, let alone a drug plan, and I will protect your right to have a private drug plan so that you have the medication you need when you go to the drug store.”
The pharmacare legislation doesn’t include any specific provisions concerning private drug plans, but makes multiple references to single-payer plan.
Liberal house leader Karina Gould insisted during the debate that nothing in the legislation would impact private plans.
“When he was talking about pharmacare, he was misleading Canadians when he stated that they would not be able to access high-quality drugs that they need and that there would not be a private plan as well that they could potentially use,” she said.
Assuming the pharmacare legislation passes the Senate, the Liberals would still need to negotiate deals with the province to provide coverage. The government has budgeted $1.5 billion for the plan, which would initially cover contraceptives and diabetes medication.
Gould suggested Poilievre was standing in the way of women’s health by threatening to end the plan.
“The initial part of this plan is to make diabetes medication and contraceptives free. One thing that we need to be asking ourselves is why the Leader of the Opposition is against that. Why is he against making contraceptives free for Canadian women?”
National Post
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