New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh says if the Liberal government doesn’t make good on pharmacare legislation by March, that would kill the Liberal-NDP political pact.
But he’s making it clear that any collapse in the deal, which is meant to hold off a federal election until next year, would be the Liberals’ fault.
Reporters lobbed questions at Mr. Singh on Feb. 7 about what consequences he’s willing to bring down on the Liberals.
Mr. Singh says if the Liberals don’t deliver by March 1, they would be turning their back on the parties’ agreement—and he warns that he won’t extend that deadline any further.
The deal originally said a bill should be passed by the end of 2023, but after months of negotiation over what it should say, the two parties punted the due date.
Mr. Singh told reporters on Feb. 7 that the parties have fundamental differences of opinion about how pharmacare should work.
The text of the supply-and-confidence deal, which has the NDP promising to support the Liberal minority government on key votes in exchange for movement on shared priorities, only calls for “progress toward a universal national pharmacare program.”
It offers no other specifics.
The Liberals, meanwhile, have pushed for a model that would serve people who don’t have existing insurance coverage, Mr. Singh said of the discussions.
That leaves the Liberals and NDP at risk of losing seats the next time Canadians go to the polls, with a federal election scheduled for fall 2025 at the latest.
Even if the deal ends in March, it doesn’t mean the NDP will bring down the government.
Mr. Singh said he told the prime minister that there would be repercussions for missing the pharmacare deadline, but he wouldn’t tell reporters what they are.
