NDP close to presenting ‘final offer’ on pharmacare: Singh

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party is getting close to giving the Liberals their final offer on a single-payer pharmacare plan as the negotiation deadline quickly approaches.

“We’re getting very close to a final position, and when we submit our final position on this, that will be it,” Singh told reporters at a press conference in Coquitlam, B.C., on Friday.

“Then the Liberals will have to decide whose side are they on. Are they on the big pharma-billionaires who are ripping off Canadians or are they on families, the side of workers, the side of women, the side of people who need medication covered? We’ll see.”

The two parties are working toward a March 1 deadline to introduce a legislative framework on a universal pharmacare plan.

The initial deadline was the end of 2023, but it was extended to March 1 in December.

An estimate from the parliamentary budget officer pegged the cost of a single-payer pharmacare program at $38.9 billion over the next four years.

Earlier this week, the NDP leader said he doesn’t expect money to be flowing immediately but wants to see legislation that lays the “foundation” for a deal.

Singh says that if the deadline is missed he will consider the confidence and supply agreement the NDP has to support the Liberals on key votes in exchange for advancing legislative priorities like pharmacare broken.

“They should take it very seriously when we say if they break their agreement, they will no longer be able to count on support, and they will no longer be able to count on any of our votes,” Singh said. He has said the NDP will instead weigh support on vote-by-vote matters.

Part of that final offer will include a pitch for national, universal coverage of birth control. Singh said that the B.C. NDP