NDP leader suggests meeting with Quebec Health Minister on drug and dental insurance plan

New Democratic Party leader (NDP), Jagmeet Singh, wrote to Quebec Health Minister Christian Dubé, and to Québec solidaire member Vincent Marissal that he would like to have a meeting to discuss to the national drug insurance and dental care program.

“I wanted to remind these two politicians (…) the reason why we entered political life: it is to improve people’s lives,” he explained Tuesday evening in an interview with The Canadian Press. “We now have a golden opportunity with these two measures to do exactly that.”

“What is really urgent in my eyes is that many Quebecers are unable to pay for the dental care and medications they need because it would cost them too much.”

Before the drug insurance plan was announced Thursday, the Quebec government quickly used their right to withdraw with “full compensation, and without conditions” by explaining that health care falls within their jurisdiction.

In his letter, the NDP leader said he was “inundated” with messages of “gratitude,” particularly from seniors who “are delighted to no longer suffer and to save more than $1,000 annually.”

He notes that the dental care program will ultimately benefit 2.5 million Quebecers and the province will reap “the greatest benefit.”

Singh asked Minister Dubé and MNA Marissal not to block “social progress,” while the universal and free coverage of contraception and diabetes medications that Ottawa is proposing would make “an unimaginable difference” in peoples lives.

Disconnected

Singh’s party fought hard for this coverage, to the point of making them elements of their agreement which allowed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s minority government to remain in power.

He declared in the interview that he was “upset” that Dubé and Marissal “don’t think about people” and prefer “academic” battles.

“Do the elders talk about areas of expertise or do they say: I want to treat my teeth, it costs too much and I can’t,” he asked. “In this specific case, they (the Legault government and Québec solidaire) are not connected with the reality of people in Quebec.”

Singh did not hold back about Premier François Legault, whom he recently described as “conservative.”

“It closes the door to seniors in Quebec for dental care, it closes the door to women in Quebec for contraceptive medications and it closes the door to people living with diabetes,” said the NDP leader.

Additionally, Federal Health Minister Mark Holland will not budge on his “common objectives” which he refuses to qualify as conditions.

His bill specifies that funding will only be provided if the provinces offer universal coverage, which is what they must fully cover.

According to Holland, health care delivery “is not a question of jurisdiction.”

He reiterated that Canadians don’t want “the argument,” but “the results.”

Furthermore, Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet said we must also save “the synthetic majority” of the Liberals and “instrumentalize the hostility against Quebec which is a success in Canada” on Tuesday.

Blanchet affirmed that Quebec “already offers” what Ottawa is offering.

However, Quebec has a hybrid public-private plan that doesn’t fully reimburse contraceptive products and diabetes medications.

Former Parti Québécois (PQ) Health Minister Jean Rochon is considered the founder of Quebec’s drug insurance plan.

In 2015, he said that Quebec’s program is “ripe for a major transformation.”

Rochon called on Ottawa to adopt a “fully public” regime and mentioned that “the leadership of the federal government could be decisive in this matter.”

Blanchet also criticized the NDP for “disavowing” its only MNA in Quebec, Alexandre Boulerice, who repeated last week that his party’s “Sherbrooke Declaration” is very important to them.

The document states that Quebec should have a “right of withdrawal with compensation,” without “conditions or standards.”

However, Singh insisted that this position stands and describes himself as a “proud ally of the Quebec nation,” and that he only asks to sit down to discuss and find solutions rather than closing the door.

A member of the NDP explained that the letter sent on Tuesday aims to “occupy space” and “redirect the conversation” public on “the real deals,” or “the people who are good at it.”

According to this NDP source, the Liberals are “almost absent” and lack “proactivity and leadership.”

“They are not currently putting pressure on the Quebec government to say let’s sit down, let’s go, we can get there. We have negotiated a lot of deals together, let’s sit down, we can achieve these objectives – There, come and meet us.”

The NDP is ready to progress and encourages the Liberals to do the same.

Also, they mentioned they would be open to the Quebec government administering the dental care program.

– With information from Caroline Plante, in Quebec

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews