Prescription drug insurance: the project of Ottawa raises fears of intrusion into provincial powers

Maxime Huard

Wednesday, 28 February 2018 17:46

UPDATE
Wednesday, 28 February 2018 18:11

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OTTAWA | The federal government’s commitment to put in place a system of drug insurance in the country raises fears of encroachment on provincial jurisdiction in health, both in Quebec city as within the opposition parties at the federal level.

“If we want to one day create a system of drug insurance in Canada, it is still necessary to realize that Quebec has made to its charges for several years,” responded the prime minister of Quebec, Philippe Couillard, in the aftermath of the tabling of the federal budget.

The financial year provides for the formation of a committee to study the establishment of a national system of prescription drug insurance.

The federal minister of Finance, Bill Morneau said Wednesday, during a speech in Ottawa, that the proposed system would be similar to that in force in Quebec, that is to say, a system that is accessible to anyone who does not have private insurance.

“A concern for the provinces,”

“When we look at the behavior of Ottawa in health for years, it is very disturbing to the provinces,” said on his side the minister of Health, Gaétan Barrette.

His counterpart, federal minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor, had not wanted to pronounce itself on the question of Quebec the day before in the press, under the pretext that the project was still in its infancy.

In Ottawa, as the conservative Party, the Bloc québécois has denounced the targeted centralization of the Trudeau government. “It is a beginning of intrusion of the federal into provincial jurisdiction in health. It is completely against the constitution of canada”, has criticised the mp for Beauce, Maxime Bernier.

Immediately after the tabling of the budget on Tuesday, the leader of the Bloc québécois Martine Ouellet has called for a right of compensation for Quebec if funds are allocated to the other canadian provinces.

“We don’t ask for charity, it’s taxes and taxes of Quebecers”, she said.

For his part, the prime minister Couillard said on Wednesday that “all we can recover, we will recover.”

A burden very heavy

For the New democratic Party, a long-time advocate for a national system of prescription drug insurance, it goes without saying that Quebec will reach its share of the funds if the funds are granted to the other canadian provinces.

But the leader of the party, Jagmeet Singh, and his québec lieutenant, Alexandre Boulerice, insisted Wednesday that such a plan is necessary.

“This is something that is advocated. The price of medicines is a huge burden on seniors and families. But it is not necessary that the federal government imposes its vision, it must work with the provinces to find solutions,” said Mr. Boulerice to the Parliament before question period.

His party complains of the government’s lack of alacrity in the folder.

– With the collaboration of Marc-André Gagnon, parliamentary Bureau