For immediate release
February 14, 2024
OTTAWA – With pharmacare legislation imminent, a new poll reveals Liberals enjoy resounding support for a public, single-payer model.
The survey, conducted by Mainstreet Research on January 25-26, 2024, and commissioned by the Council of Canadians, found that two out of three Canadians (64%) prefer a universal pharmacare system over one that targets only the uninsured. This sentiment resonates across the political spectrum, including among a significant majority of Liberal and NDP voters (78% and 92%, respectively) and nearly half (48%) of Conservative supporters.
“There’s this false narrative that pharmacare isn’t a vote-getter and that it has low priority for Canadians, but the evidence clearly tells a different story,” says Nikolas Barry-Shaw, campaigner at the Council of Canadians. “The Liberals have a clear and popular mandate from the people to implement universal, publicly-funded pharmacare legislation. Anything less would be a huge disservice to Canadians.”
The poll also asked about a crucial issue in the Liberal-NDP negotiations over pharmacare: how to launch the program. A decisive majority (63%) favoured starting with universal coverage of essential medicines and expanding the program over time to include more medications, rather than launching pharmacare via a means-tested program like the Canadian Dental Care Plan.
A phased implementation was recommended by the Liberals’ expert panel on pharmacare led by Dr. Eric Hoskins in 2019, and it is estimated to cost the government $3.5 billion annually.
“The Liberals have repeatedly said they’re too fiscally constrained to introduce a costly and complex universal pharmacare system, but that has never been the demand,” says Donya Ziaee, a researcher with the Council of Canadians. “The incremental approach recommended by the Hoskins report would only cost a tiny fraction of the federal budget – and we know now that it’s favoured by a significant majority of Canadians.”
“We are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis where one of out four Canadians are skipping their medications because they can’t afford them. Public universal pharmacare isn’t just good policy – it’s what the people want, and it’s what they deserve,” Barry-Shaw added.
For full survey details, including questions and results, click here.
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For interviews, please contact:
Donya Ziaee, Communications Officer, The Council of Canadians
media@canadians.org, 613-404-2004
