ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

Skip to main content

Health Minister Mark Holland appeals to Senate not to amend pharmacare bill

Share

Health Minister Mark Holland is urging senators not to tweak the pharmacare bill he carefully negotiated with the NDP earlier this year.

The bill would underpin a national, single-payer pharmacare program and allow the health minister to negotiate with provinces and territories to cover some diabetes and contraceptive medications.

It was the result of weeks of political negotiations with the New Democrats, who early this year threatened to pull out of their supply-and-confidence deal with the Liberals unless they could agree on the wording.

Independent Senator Rosemary Moodie says academics and experts have suggested changes to improve the bill to several of the senators tasked with reviewing it before it becomes law. 

Holland says he respects the role of the Senate, but that the pharmacare legislation was "balanced on a pinhead," and every word was carefully debated and argued over.

Holland is also asking senators to move quickly to pass the legislation, to avoid lending credence to Conservative critiques that the program doesn't actually exist. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024. 

IN DEPTH

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster

A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½

A 14-year-old student who allegedly set her classmate on fire is facing a new charge.

Court documents filed in the case of a Pakistani man arrested in Quebec for an alleged plot to kill Jews in New York City reveal the RCMP didn't have enough evidence to hold him in Canada.

Video of a brazen daylight auto theft which shows a suspect running over a victim in a stolen luxury SUV has been released by police west of Toronto.

DEVELOPING

DEVELOPING Exploding electronic devices kill 20, wound 450 in second day of explosions in Lebanon

Lebanon's health ministry said Wednesday that at least 20 people were killed and 450 others wounded by exploding electronic devices in multiple regions of the country. The explosions came a day after an apparent Israeli attack targeting pagers used by Hezbollah killed at least 12 and wounded nearly 3,000. Here are the latest updates.

What to know about the deadly electronic explosions targeting Hezbollah

Just one day after pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded, more electronic devices detonated in Lebanon Wednesday in what appeared to be a second wave of sophisticated, deadly attacks that targeted an extraordinary number of people. Here's what we know so far.

Local Spotlight

An ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey named Goliath is missing from its longtime home at a veterinary hospital south of Calgary.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.

David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.

Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.

A daytrip to the backcountry turned into a frightening experience for a Vancouver couple this weekend.

If you take a look to the right of Hilda Duddridge’s 100th birthday cake, you’ll see a sculpture of a smiling girl extending her arms forward.

Two sisters have finally been reunited with a plane their father built 90 years ago, that is also considered an important part of Canadian aviation history.

Stay Connected