NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said Wednesday he does not expect to see legislation to create a national pharmacare system in next week’s fall economic statement because negotiations with the Liberals are “ongoing.”
Singh made the remarks in Toronto, where he was outlining what he wants to see in Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s fall economic statement, which will be presented on Nov. 21.
Under the confidence-and-supply agreement between the Liberals and the NDP — which sees New Democrats support the Liberal minority government on confidence votes in exchange for progress on NDP policy priorities — the Liberal government committed to passing pharmacare legislation by the end of 2023. Parliament is only sitting for another four weeks between now and the end of the year.
“I don’t think that we are going to get to the point where we need to get on pharmacare next week, so that’s going to be an ongoing negotiation. So I’m not worried about next week in terms of pharmacare,” Singh said.
He said the NDP will keep pushing the Liberals to craft an agreement it can live with. He said New Democrats won’t accept a pharmacare plan that fails to help everyone.
Singh said he’s seen a draft of federal pharmacare legislation. He said his party sent it back to the Liberals because it could not agree with one of the major elements of the proposed bill.
“The Liberals want to leave the door open for some form of mixed public-private, where the pharmaceutical industries continue to make huge profits,” he said.
“We don’t care about them. We don’t want to appease them. We want to make sure Canadians can afford their medication.That’s our priority.”
First draft of pharmacare legislation was ‘insufficient,’ NDP leader says
Featured VideoNDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says the federal government is now working on ‘some amendments’ to pharmacare legislation.
Singh was asked several times if he would pull out of the confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals if pharmacare legislation is not passed by the end of the year. He sidestepped, saying he’s confident the NDP and Liberals can find common ground.
The NDP says it wants a public, universal, single-payer pharmacare system, rather than one that permits private medical plans with drug coverage.
Groceries and rent
Singh said he wants the economic statement to include measures to lower rents and bring down the cost of groceries.
“I want to see real investments in building affordable housing,” he said. “Places where people can afford to rent, ways to bring down the cost of rent. That’s what I want to see in this economic statement.”
Speaking in Mascouche, Que., Freeland pointed out that she and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne met with the CEOs of major grocery chains to ask them to come up with plans to stabilize prices. She added there are other ways to get prices down.
Singh says NDP will ‘keep pushing on pharmacare’
Featured VideoRosemary Barton speaks with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, about his party’s call for more help on Canadians’ home heating costs, voting with Conservatives on their carbon tax motion, and the future of the confidence-and-supply agreement with the Liberals.
“We need to make a major change in Canadian competition law,” she said. “A very important way to bring prices down is through competition.
“We need to bring more competition into the Canadian economy, particularly in the grocery sector.”
Freeland said she and Champagne are working on that approach and are looking “forward to bringing some meaningful advances forward.”
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was higher in late-morning trading, helped by strength in energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also moved up.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 34.91 points at 23,736.98.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 178.05 points at 41,800.13. The S&P 500 index was up 28.38 points at 5,661.47, while the Nasdaq composite was up 133.17 points at 17,725.30.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.56 cents US compared with 73.57 cents US on Monday.
The November crude oil contract was up 68 cents at US$69.70 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up three cents at US$2.40 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$7.80 at US$2,601.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.28 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Canada’s inflation rate fell to two per cent last month, finally hitting the Bank of Canada’s target after a tumultuous battle with skyrocketing price growth.
The annual inflation rate fell from 2.5 per cent in July to reach the lowest level since February 2021.
Statistics Canada’s consumer price index report on Tuesday attributed the slowdown in part to lower gasoline prices.
Clothing and footwear prices also decreased on a month-over-month basis, marking the first decline in the month of August since 1971 as retailers offered larger discounts to entice shoppers amid slowing demand.
The Bank of Canada’s preferred core measures of inflation, which strip out volatility in prices, also edged down in August.
The marked slowdown in price growth last month was steeper than the 2.1 per cent annual increase forecasters were expecting ahead of Tuesday’s release and will likely spark speculation of a larger interest rate cut next month from the Bank of Canada.
“Inflation remains unthreatening and the Bank of Canada should now focus on trying to stimulate the economy and halting the upward climb in the unemployment rate,” wrote CIBC senior economist Andrew Grantham.
Benjamin Reitzes, managing director of Canadian rates and macro strategist at BMO, said Tuesday’s figures “tilt the scales” slightly in favour of more aggressive cuts, though he noted the Bank of Canada will have one more inflation reading before its October rate announcement.
“If we get another big downside surprise, calls for a 50 basis-point cut will only grow louder,” wrote Reitzes in a client note.
The central bank began rapidly hiking interest rates in March 2022 in response to runaway inflation, which peaked at a whopping 8.1 per cent that summer.
The central bank increased its key lending rate to five per cent and held it at that level until June 2024, when it delivered its first rate cut in four years.
A combination of recovered global supply chains and high interest rates have helped cool price growth in Canada and around the world.
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem recently signalled that the central bank is ready to increase the size of its interest rate cuts, if inflation or the economy slow by more than expected.
Its key lending rate currently stands at 4.25 per cent.
CIBC is forecasting the central bank will cut its key rate by two percentage points between now and the middle of next year.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is also expected on Wednesday to deliver its first interest rate cut in four years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick‘s finance minister says the province recorded a surplus of $500.8 million for the fiscal year that ended in March.
Ernie Steeves says the amount — more than 10 times higher than the province’s original $40.3-million budget projection for the 2023-24 fiscal year — was largely the result of a strong economy and population growth.
The report of a big surplus comes as the province prepares for an election campaign, which will officially start on Thursday and end with a vote on Oct. 21.
Steeves says growth of the surplus was fed by revenue from the Harmonized Sales Tax and federal money, especially for health-care funding.
Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs has promised to reduce the HST by two percentage points to 13 per cent if the party is elected to govern next month.
Meanwhile, the province’s net debt, according to the audited consolidated financial statements, has dropped from $12.3 billion in 2022-23 to $11.8 billion in the most recent fiscal year.
Liberal critic René Legacy says having a stronger balance sheet does not eliminate issues in health care, housing and education.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
