[Azure]

Ontario hasn't 'opted in' because there is literally nothing to 'opt into'

The Liberals’ and NDP’s “deal on pharmacare,” as CBC News described it, was big news all week. It was a condition of the NDP maintaining its supply-and-confidence agreement with the government (or at least, party leader Jagmeet Singh said it was) so it had major political ramifications (if we assume Singh was actually serious about withdrawing support, which we certainly should not).

“Canada’s pharmacare bill has officially been introduced in Parliament,” Global News announced.

“Deal on pharmacare bill has been reached with Liberals ahead of March deadline, NDP says,” was the Canadian Press headline.

Folks, there is no pharmacare to dismantle. There isn’t even a deal on pharmacare to dismantle — or to walk away from, to abandon or to otherwise disrespect. Almost literally nothing has happened to underpin this news cycle.

What we have is Bill C-64, “An act respecting pharmacare.” Excluding preamble and title page, it is four-and-a-half pages long (two-and-a-quarter really, since it’s bilingual), and it most certainly does not bind the government to implementing a national pharmacare program — which it can’t do on its own anyway, health care being provincial jurisdiction and two of the country’s larger jurisdictions (Quebec, which already provides prescription drug coverage, and Alberta) having already indicated they’re not interested.

Paragraph three sets out the purpose of the bill, which is “to guide efforts to improve … the accessibility and affordability of prescription drugs … in collaboration with the provinces, territories, Indigenous peoples and other partners and stakeholders, with the aim of continuing to work toward the implementation of national universal pharmacare.”

Here’s what the bill says: “The Minister may, if the Minister has entered into an agreement with a province or territory to do so, make payments to the province or territory in order to increase any existing public pharmacare coverage … for specific prescription drugs and related products intended for contraception or the treatment of diabetes.”

If that sounds like something less than a done deal to you, your instincts are good. Anything predicated on an agreement between Ottawa and the provinces is very much worth doubting until the moment it demonstrably, verifiably exists. And yet provinces are already under at least implicit pressure from media to declare themselves in or out. “While Ontario is not ‘writing off anything’ in national pharmacare talks,” Global News reported, “the government is taking a wait and see approach before deciding to opt in.”

https://nationalpost.com/opinion/the...harmacare-deal

lol. BUT AT LEAST WE HAVE SOMETHING AMIRITE FOLKS!