Canadian Health Coalition
  • Donate
  • Menu Canvas
    • CHC Home
    • News
    • About us
    • Campaigns
    • Contact
  • hello@healthcoalition.ca
  • 613-699-9898
Donate OR Subscribe
    • English
    • Français (French)
Canadian Health Coalition
  • Home
  • About us
    • Our Team
  • News
  • Campaigns
  • Contact
  • Donate

    Support the Canadian Health Coalition

    $
    Select Payment Method
    Personal Info

    Credit Card Info
    This is a secure SSL encrypted payment.

    Donation Total: $25.00 One Time

PM mandates Health Minister Duclos to advance pharmacare

Homepage Analysis PM mandates Health Minister Duclos to advance pharmacare
Analysis

PM mandates Health Minister Duclos to advance pharmacare

January 5, 2022
By CDN Health Coalition
0 Comment
677 Views

Prime Minister Trudeau has responded to calls for progress on the long-promised national, universal single-payer public drug coverage by including pharmacare in Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos’ mandate letter.

The Health Minister’s mandate letter, published on December 16, 2021, instructs the Health Minister to:

“Continue engaging with willing provinces and territories towards national universal pharmacare, while proceeding with a national strategy on high-cost drugs for rare diseases and advancing the establishment of the Canada Drug Agency.”

Minister Duclos has many other tasks, not the least of which is helping to protect Canadians from COVID-19. Movement on pharmacare will require significant political pressure to move it up the list of policy priorities.

“Continue engaging with willing provinces and territories towards national universal pharmacare”

MINISTER OF HEALTH MANDATE LETTER

The Liberals have been coming under intense criticism from NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and public health care advocates. Pharmacare was absent from November’s Throne Speech, and financing was overlooked in the Economic and Fiscal Update 2021, despite a request from the Canadian Health Coalition and twenty other organizations and experts.

With the inclusion of pharmacare in Minister Jean-Yves Duclos’ mandate letter, there is a path forward for further discussions between advocates and the government, likely to the chagrin of the “Big Pharma” lobby which has opposed pharmacare strenuously.

The Prime Minister called for action on other Canadian Health Coalition priorities, including increased investments in primary care and hiring health care staff, national standards and a Safe Long-Term Care Act, and international efforts to ensure that people worldwide have access to COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics.

What are mandate letters?

According to the Prime Minister’s website, mandate letters outline the objectives that each minister will work to accomplish, as well as the pressing challenges they will address in their role. In recent years mandate letters have been made publicly available and posted on government websites (both federal and provincial). When combined with the Speech from the Throne, mandate letters for ministers provide an extra level of detail in the government’s intentions for the new Parliament.

(Cover: 2020 Remembrance Day ceremony in Quebec with Jean Yves Duclos. Via Shutterstock)

Tags: Pharmacare

Previous Story
Privatization hits COVID-19 testing during Omicron surge
Next Story
Boost voluntary plasma collection to ensure security of essential blood products, says Health Coalition

Related Articles

“Medicare did not fall from the sky”: expert

Webinar discusses origins of Medicare and efforts to realize the...

The clock is ticking on the Canada Pharmacare Act, warns Health Coalition

Pharmacare in Canada is essentially "shovel ready"

Recent Posts

  • “Medicare did not fall from the sky”: expert Jun 28, 2022
  • Canadians respond to devastating abortion rights rollback in the U.S. Jun 28, 2022
  • Health care in danger of being “uberized,” says economist Jun 27, 2022
  • Happy 60th Medicare! A webinar on the origins of Medicare and keeping the dream of universal public health care alive in Canada Jun 21, 2022
  • NDP-Liberal agreement an “unprecedented opportunity” for health care: Unifor Conference Jun 21, 2022

Tags

abortion Canada Health Transfer Canadian Health Coalition COVID-19 dental care Federal Election 44 Health care workers Health policy intellectual property rights Long-term care Medicare Mental health Pharmacare Privatization Racism vaccines

Cdn Health CoalitionFollow

Cdn Health Coalition

A recent @globeandmail editorial advocated for better health care but perpetuated harmful ideas when it comes to refugees and migrants, marking some as deserving and others as not. Check out @EmilioRod_sv's reply.

Emilio Rodríguez (he/him)@EmilioRod_sv

Media oversight is critically important, especially when harmful ideas are casually thrown around. In this article, the @globeandmail calls for a system that gives “speedy asylum to genuine refugees and speedy deportation to economic migrants.” (1/3) https://tgam.ca/3nEhkvS

Reply on Twitter 1544049148617441281Retweet on Twitter 15440491486174412812Like on Twitter 15440491486174412812
Canadian Health Coalition
116 Albert St. Suite 300
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5G3
+613.699.9898
hello@healthcoalition.ca
  • Home
  • What we do
  • Campaigns
  • News
  • Contact

Find posts prior to January 1, 2021
SearchPostsLogin
Tuesday, 28, Jun
“Medicare did not fall from the sky”: expert
Tuesday, 28, Jun
Canadians respond to devastating abortion rights rollback in the U.S.
Monday, 27, Jun
Health care in danger of being “uberized,” says economist
Tuesday, 21, Jun
Happy 60th Medicare! A webinar on the origins of Medicare and keeping the dream of universal public health care alive in Canada
Tuesday, 21, Jun
NDP-Liberal agreement an “unprecedented opportunity” for health care: Unifor Conference
Tuesday, 21, Jun
Health Coalition joins 298 groups condemning “outrageous WTO failure”

Welcome back,