At a three-day retreat in Ottawa this week, New Democrat members of parliament are expected to discuss winning more than their confidence and supply pact with the federal Liberals.
Under the deal reached last March, NDP agreed to support a minority government on key votes in the House of Commons to avoid triggering an election before 2025.
In return, the moderate Pledged to make progress on NDP priorities including pharmacare.
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NDP caucus chair Jenny Kwan said Monday, “We will be watching very carefully to see where the government is and whether they are going to honor their word.”
Before the holiday break, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh threatened to pull out of the accord if federal action was not taken to reform health care, which the party sees as a national crisis.
Quan said pulling out of the accord is an option.
“We’ll have to wait and see how things unfold. I mean, our agreement is very clear to say what items the government needs to deliver,” Quan said.
Living policies passed by the Liberals last fall include dental-care subsidies for children under 12 in low-income households, one-time rental supplements for low-income renters and a GST tax rebate. Temporary doubling, was the NDP’s priorities.
Quan said when NDP MPs gather for the caucus retreat starting on Wednesday, they will lay out those policies to “make life more affordable” for Canadians this year.
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That would include expanding dental coverage to more Canadians and pushing for more investment in Indigenous housing, she said.
The caucus is also eyeing bills after parliament returns at the end of the month that is expected to be brought forward this year: a “bus transition” bill for energy workers, whose jobs could be affected by environmental policy, and Canada Pharmacare. Act for the government to publicly fund prescription drugs.
“The pharmacare piece will require legislation. It’s part of the agreement, and so legislation will certainly come forward,” Quan said.
The confidence-and-supply agreement stipulated that a pharmacare bill should be introduced by the end of 2023, and a “National Drug Agency” to develop “a national formulary of essential medicines and a bulk procurement scheme by the end of 2017″. Will be assigned the work of a settlement.”
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In 2020, the NDP’s House Leader, Peter Julian, proposed a private members’ bill to outline a universal pharmacare program. It was defeated in the House of Commons in February 2021, with a majority of Liberals, Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois voting against it.
Quan expects such a bill to have more support the second time around.
“There is a framework we can build on,” he said, adding that NDP health critic Don Davis “is working very hard.”
The NDP caucus retreat ends on Friday, and the House of Commons is scheduled to resume on January 30.
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