NDP urges action on pharmacare, dental care as health ministers meet in Halifax

Minister of Health Mark Holland speaks to reporters during a cabinet retreat at Chateau Montebello in Montebello, Que., on Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA — Canada’s provincial and territorial health ministers are meeting with their federal counterpart in Halifax this week, and the New Democrats are urging them to ink pharmacare deals.

The national pharmacare law calls for the federal government to sign deals with provinces and territories to start funding coverage of birth control and diabetes medications.

Federal Health Minister Mark Holland has said he hoped to have deals signed by this spring, but so far only B.C. has signed a memorandum of understanding.

Other provinces have pledged to start covering some medications on their own.

In a letter to Holland, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and health critic Peter Julian are also asking the Liberals to speed up expansion of the dental care program, which they say is nearly a month late.

Both programs were a key part of the supply-and-confidence deal that saw the NDP keep the minority Liberal government in power from 2022 until last fall.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2025.

Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press