Health Minister Mark Holland speaks at the SOS Medicare conference, in Ottawa, on Feb. 24.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Ottawa has reached a pharmacare agreement with Manitoba, which the federal government hopes will encourage other provinces to sign bilateral deals.
The agreement is significant because Manitoba is the first province to reach a formal bilateral pharmacare deal with the federal government.
For Manitoba, the agreement will see more than $219-million given to the province over four years and residents are expected to begin receiving coverage in June.
In addition, the federal government will give more than $48-million to Manitoba for access to drugs for rare diseases, as well as early diagnosis and screening.
The clock is ticking for the federal government to secure pharmacare bilateral deals in place before a federal election campaign, which could happen as soon as March. The agreements are designed to see the rollout of universal coverage for diabetes drugs, supplies and contraceptives.
Health Minister Mark Holland told The Globe and Mail in an interview ahead of Thursday’s announcement in Winnipeg that federal funding will be put toward diabetes medication, devices and supplies, as well as hormone replacement therapy in Manitoba.
“This is massive,” he said. “There will be a day where it seems impossible to believe that people didn’t have access to the medication they needed.”
The province already has coverage for contraceptives in place, Mr. Holland said.
In early January, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was proroguing Parliament until March 24 and he would resign after the Liberals elect a new leader. The winner of that race will be unveiled on March 9.
Opposition parties have promised to defeat the Liberals when the House of Commons returns at the end of next month.
Unlike the dissolution of Parliament, prorogation means politicians, including ministers, maintain access to their rights and privileges.
Mr. Holland has been urged by proponents, including Dr. Eric Hoskins, the former chair of an advisory council on pharmacare, to secure bilateral deals as soon as possible.
Pharmacare proponents argue there is no time to waste to reach these deals because patients cannot afford medications they need and some become very ill and even die because they cannot get access.
In response to calls to get deals done, Mr. Holland said: “We are sprinting, not running.”
“These are going to change people’s lives,” he said.
“I believe they’re going to help, in a very material way, transform our health system. So we are urgently working to get as many deals as we can.”
Mr. Holland also said he expects more bilateral pharmacare agreements with provinces to follow “in the coming days but this is a very important first deal.”
Negotiations on the bilateral agreements were able to begin after a law known as Bill C-64 was passed in October.
The law stems from a former agreement that was in place between the Liberals and New Democrats. It saw the NDP prop up the minority government to see specific policies prioritized, including pharmacare.
At a January meeting of health ministers from across the country, Mr. Holland argued against a spring election.
The minister cited the looming trade war with the United States and said Ottawa needs time to finalize the bilateral agreements with provinces and territories. He said the federal government is very close to striking deals but that more time was required.
A memorandum of understanding is already in place between Ottawa and British Columbia. The MOU said after Bill C-64 received royal assent, the province would enter formal discussions with the federal government to implement universal, single-payer, first-dollar coverage for select contraception and diabetes medications.
A formal bilateral agreement with B.C. has yet to be announced.
Last June, Mr. Holland said his objective was for the drugs to be covered and available to Canadians by April 1 of this year.
Joss Reimer, the president of the Canadian Medical Association, has said that the sooner the agreements are signed, the “better chance they have at surviving whatever the political winds may bring.”
Conservatives did not support the Liberal government’s legislation on pharmacare.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said during a debate in the House last fall that he rejected a single-payer drug plan.
In January when the party was asked by The Globe if it would amend or repeal the pharmacare law should the Conservatives form government, the party’s health critic Stephen Ellis called the Liberal government’s plan expensive. He also said it could “jeopardize coverage” plans in place for 21 million Canadians.
Mr. Holland has rejected the claim.