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September 24th, 2019

“It Seemed Like a Punt” and Other Things People Are Saying on Trudeau’s Phony Pharmacare Promise

Justin Trudeau’s pharmacare PR exercise has been widely panned by experts and political commentators.

The promise had no timelines and funding fell far short of what would be needed for a real pharmacare program.

Canadians know that the Liberals can’t be trusted to bring in pharmacare – they’ve been promising to introduce pharmacare since 1997. After the election, it never materializes.

Here’s what people are saying about the Liberal promise:

“It seemed like it was a punt on the pharmacare program. Whether they'll announce more, that's what we're waiting for.” (Hannah Thibedeau, CBC News)

“I think the Liberals are lacking a lot of details as to how and when they would do it and exactly how much it would cost. This $6 billion for all these different things would be a drop in the bucket.” (Hannah Thibedeau, CBC News)

“He did not release a costing for the proposed plan, nor did he say when it would be implemented.” (Globe and Mail)

“The concern about this morning's announcement is the ambiguity that's associated with it. There are no timelines in terms of implementation. We don't want four years of negotiations to take place, we want implementation and people need to know, in fact is pharmacare going to be implemented or not?” (Jane Philpott on CTV)

“There’s a real concern around the dollar figure attached to this… they certainly fall short of what both the Hoskins report recommended and what the Parliamentary Budget Officer has recommended.” (Jane Philpott on CTV)

“Today’s announcement contains no additional commitments or implementation details…. [Canadians] deserve to know how the party that set the process in motion plans to deliver on its promise.” (Canadian Doctors for Medicare)

“When it came to pharmacare, they let a lot slide off the table. If Mr. Trudeau was promising a universal plan, that would be a big deal. But is he? It wasn’t clear that he was.” (Campbell Clark, Globe and Mail)