‘The door was closed on our province’: Feds not offering pharmacare to N.L., says health minister
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The federal government has decided to no longer negotiate a pharmacare program that would make diabetes medication and contraceptives free, said N.L.’s health minister on Monday.
“The door was closed on our province,” Minister Lela Evans told reporters.
Meanwhile, the federal government said it’s still open to collaborating with the province to improve health care — but was mum on any possible pharmacare talks.
In a statement to CBC, the federal health minister’s office said Canada is still investing in health-care access across all provinces and territories.
“Minister [Marjorie] Michel is having regular conversations with all of her counterparts. These conversations are also happening between Health Canada’s officials and Newfoundland and Labrador’s officials to better understand the unique needs of Canadians living in Newfoundland and Labrador,” wrote communications director Guillaume Bertrand.
WATCH | Evans says N.L. will keep pushing for pharmacare deal with feds :
Health minister says exclusion of N.L. from pharmacare program is unfair
Health Minister Lela Evans said the federal government shut the door on negotiating a federal pharmacare deal with Newfoundland and Labrador. As the CBC’s Mark Quinn reports, Evans said the province has been unfairly excluded from the program which covers the cost of diabetes treatments and contraceptives for residents in some other parts of the country.
The universal Pharmacare Act was passed by the Trudeau Liberals, and received royal assent in 2024. Since then, only British Columbia, Yukon, Manitoba, and Prince Edward Island have joined the program.
Evans said she pushed for pharmacare negotiations to continue, but that the federal government decided to run it as a pilot program with just those that have already signed on — stopping negotiations with all other provinces and territories.
Evans criticized the decision, saying it’s supposed to be a national program.
“It speaks volumes about inequity,” she said.
Evans also added that neither the current provincial government nor the former Liberals are to blame.
“The Liberal government, they actually had the door closed on them and that wasn’t fair to them,” she said.
“The onus was on Canada to allow us to actually continue to negotiate and become a part of the deal. We were excluded. And for me, that’s very, very disappointing.”
Evans said the province would still like negotiations to continue, if given the opportunity.
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