A group of New Democratic activists intend to push for drug coverage to be a sine qua non condition for maintaining the agreement of support and trust with the Liberals at a political convention next week.
The agreement provides for the New Democratic Party (NDP) to support the minority Liberals in key votes in exchange for progress on common priorities, including pharmacare.
Activists are submitting an emergency resolution to declare that the agreement cannot be sustained without legislation that commits to a universal, fully public pharmacare program, which they hope will be debated at the convention in Hamilton, in Ontario.
The group, called Stand Strong For Pharmacare, launched a website for delegates to encourage them to take a strong stance on the policy, and to hold the Liberals to their agreement.
“Our resolution at the NDP convention would make it clear that if [le premier ministre] Justin Trudeau does not respect his promise of a universal, comprehensive and public pharmacare plan, this will have consequences,” we can read on the website.
The resolution comes after NDP health critic Don Davies revealed his party had rejected the first draft of the Liberal government’s pharmacare bill, which is expected to be tabled this fall.
“At this stage, this does not respect the red lines of the New Democrats,” Mr. Davies said in an interview this week. We are waiting for a next version to reach us. »
Mr. Davies said the NDP would accept nothing less than a commitment to having pharmacare paid for and administered by the single-payer public system.
The group, led by James Brunet, president of the Ottawa South NDP provincial riding association, said members need to tell the party loud and clear that they support them in the fight for pharmacare. , “even if it means risking elections”.
Health Minister Mark Holland said discussions with the NDP were continuing and the situation was still fluid.
The party chief’s chief of staff, Jagmeet Singh, said she expected there to be many conversations about the support and confidence deal at the convention.
“I think there’s a lot of concern that the Liberals are trying to get out of the deal to lay the groundwork for pharmacare. I think this will be debated in the room,” said Jennifer Howard on Friday.
The deadline for submitting resolutions to Congress was set for August, but news of ongoing negotiations over pharmacare legislation only recently came to light.
Policy ideas submitted after the deadline, due to urgent and unforeseen circumstances, are considered an emergency resolution, and the congressional policy committee will decide whether or not they can be submitted.
The resolution will likely be discussed on the final day of the NDP convention, if it makes it to debate.