NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he has put Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “on notice” that the failure to present a sufficient piece of pharmacare framework legislation by the March 1 deadline will be a supply-and-confidence deal-breaker.
During a Wednesday news conference, Singh revealed he had a “tough” meeting with the prime minister on Monday, in which he outlined the New Democrat’s line in the sand when it comes to the promised pharmacare bill.
“I made it clear… this is something we’re very serious about. We’re not going to extend this any further. We’re very serious that pharmacare has to be delivered,” Singh said.
“I put him on notice that we expect that by March 1, if not there will be repercussions… if the government doesn’t follow through.”
Setting up a framework for a national drug plan was one of the core planks of the two-party agreement meant to provide the minority Liberal government parliamentary stability until June 2025, in exchange for progress on progressive policies.
Now, Singh has indicated that if the Liberals don’t follow-through within the next month, he’ll consider that to mean they’ve “walked away” from their pact. He said he’s not open to any additional delays.
“We made our demands very clear and our expectations very clear. The prime minister and the Liberal government now know where we stand, and we’ll see what happens on March 1,” Singh said.
He indicated the two parties continue to differ on whether the deal will truly be single-payer and universal, accusing Trudeau’s party of trying to push a “mixed system” to please pharmaceutical and insurance companies.
“They’ve made lots of excuses why they don’t want to use certain words. We are going to continue to push for what their own convention passed, what their own commission recommended, what all the countries in the world where we’ve looked in terms of where the best practices are… that’s what we’re going to fight for,” Singh said.
At a town hall during last month’s Edmonton caucus retreat, Singh and his MPs heard pleas to pin down the—as Singh characterized them—at-times “slippery” Liberals on pharmacare.
While the agreement originally required the federal government to pass a “Canada Pharmacare Act” by the end of 2023, the Liberals and New Democrats agreed to an extension, after being unable to even table a bill by that deadline.
The NDP leader said that because the Liberals missed their initial deadline, his party is now expecting more steps, but wouldn’t offer more specifics, vowing to say more in the “coming days.”
NDP MP and health critic Don Davies told reporters at the January retreat that there has been some back-and-forth on the parties’ positions about how far the legislation should go, after the initial draft was rejected by Singh as offering “insufficient” coverage for Canadians.
Davies said the NDP has some “creative” and “bold” proposals to see an agreeable version of the legislation materialize.
Asked Tuesday for a status update on the talks and the overarching economic restraints on the government given the estimated multibillion-dollar price tag on a universal drug program, Health Minister Mark Holland acknowledged the federal government “can’t afford this to be a massively expensive program.”
He said the NDP have been respectful of the limited room the Liberals have, and said the two sides are “progressing concretely.”
“The challenge on these things is that you know, as you get closer to thinking you have an agreement, there are always additional details and additional pieces that come into play,” Holland said. “When I say it’s moving forward well, I say that earnestly. It is, but it isn’t easy.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
