As you know, I am a big supporter of National Universal Pharmacare.

No one should have to choose between paying their rent or paying for the prescription drugs they need. No one should need to stretch out their insulin to make it last longer.

We are the only country in the world with universal health care that doesn’t provide universal coverage for prescription drugs.

We’re working to fix that. And we need to keep working together to get it done.

Over the years, your feedback has been a big part of my advocacy on this. Thank you. Every call, every letter, every email, every chat in the grocery store—it all matters.

As a government, we’ve worked hard to set the stage for pharmacare. The Hoskins Report has been guiding us and good progress is being made.

We’ve been working on the national strategy for rare diseases, and we’ve established the Canadian Drug Agency to ensure our drug system is more accessible and ready for the future. We have a pharmacare pilot program in place with Prince Edward Island and we will use this to inform our ongoing work to advance national universal pharmacare.

On a personal note, I felt that the pandemic slowed us down a little bit on this. But thankfully, our work on National Universal Pharmacare is moving forward in a big way.

We’ve tabled Bill C-64, the Pharmacare Act.

This legislation sets out a strong framework for National Universal Pharmacare, based on the guiding principles of universal, single-payer, public pharmacare for Canada. We’ll need to work with the provinces, territories and Indigenous people and other partners and stakeholders to get it right.

The legislation also includes two other particularly important life-changing improvements for so many.

Diabetes Medication and Devices

We’re looking to collaborate with the provinces and territories to provide universal single-payer coverage for a range of diabetes medications, along with working on supporting better access to diabetes supplies and devices.

Find more information here.

Contraceptives

We’re looking to collaborate with the provinces & territories to provide universal, single-payer coverage for a range of contraceptives. (Example: oral contraceptives and IUDs).

Find more information here.

Here’s the thing. I want you to know that I won’t stop advocating until this is a reality. And, I want you to know that we’ve been working with any party that will stand with us on this. Unfortunately, the Conservatives remain against pharmacare for Canadians, and I am concerned that they will continue to filibuster and jam up the House of Commons in order to stall legislation like this.

I will do everything I can to keep moving this forward. And I hope you won’t stop making your voice heard on this issue.

Let’s remind folks why national universal pharmacare matters to us, and should matter to everyone.
Because, it’s for everyone.