Health minister says he hopes some provinces will have pharmacare plan in place by end of 2024

Federal Health Minister Mark Holland says he hopes some provinces will be able to have the government's new pharmacare plan in place by the end of the year.

In an interview on that aired Sunday, Holland said that during his conversations with provincial colleagues, some had expressed major enthusiasm for the program unveiled this week that would cover diabetes medication and contraception.

«It's going to take time to negotiate these with the provinces,» he told CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton. «We have a couple of provinces who are super eager, want to be on the front lines, want to do this right away. And that, at the same time, allows us to go and negotiate with the other provinces to get this rolling.

»We want to see, for early provinces, folks getting their diabetes medicine covered and contraceptives — we want to see that, hopefully, even by the end of this year."

The federal pharmacare program is a product of the Liberal-NDP supply-and-confidence agreement, and in its initial phase would cover diabetes medication and contraception for all Canadians. The government will look to expand coverage in the future. But implementing the plan will first require a funding agreement with the provinces.

Alberta and Quebec have both already signalled that they do not want to participate in the system.

«Give us the dollars,» Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange said in a news conference Monday.

«Allow us to enhance the programs we actually have now, rather than create more bureaucracy.»

Holland said the federal government and Alberta have been able to work effectively across a range of issues and he was optimistic they would also work through the pharmacare deal.

Ontario, for its part, has stayed neutral so far,