Council of Canadians supporters across the country are showing their support for public pharmacare and building the movement by putting up window signs in their homes and asking their neighbors to do the same, handing out flyers and collecting petitions outside pharmacies and at other locations in their communities, and meeting with their MPs.
Below are printable campaign materials and other resources that can be useful to those of you doing this work.
Campaign materials
The Pharmacare Act (Bill C-64) has been adopted, which means Canadians will soon be able to get their medications with a health card rather than a credit card – starting with diabetes drugs and contraceptives.
Printable information page: An army of “experts” with direct financial ties to Big Pharma and the insurance industry have been flooding digital and print media with misinformation about public, universal pharmacare. Our new exposé unveils the network of think tanks and commentators that have been doing industry’s bidding.
Organizing in your community
Meet with your MP about pharmacare
The federal government has promised to implement a national pharmacare program. MPs need to hear from their constituents to ensure they follow through with their promise.
Canvassing How-To: A Guide to Building Power for Pharmacare
Canvassing is the work of reaching out and speaking one-on-one with people about an issue you care about and motivating them to take action. We can build the people power needed to win pharmacare, one conversation at a time, by speaking with our neighbours about the urgent need for pharmacare and the opportunity before us, and inviting them to join the fight.
Recent Articles
Go Deeper: Reports and Documents on why Canada needs Public Pharmacare
- A Prescription for Profit: Exposing Big Pharma’s campaign of misinformation on pharmacare (May 2024)
- We Need Pharmacare Now, pandemic testimonials, illustrated (September 2020)
- A Better Prescription report: Why Canadians need a national pharmacare program, Council of Canadians (October 2016)
- MP Briefing Note (pdf)
- Senate Briefing Note (pdf)
- Body Count: The human cost of financial barriers to prescription medications, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (May 2018)
- The Big Money Club: Revealing the Players and Their Campaign to Stop Pharmacare (March 2019)
- A Prescription for Savings (CCPA-C4TF report, December 2018)
- Cost Savings for National Pharmacare (CCPA Briefing Note, September 2017)
- A Prescription for Canada: Achieving Pharmacare for All, Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare (June 2019)
- The Economic Case for Pharmacare (February 2019)
- Pharmacare Now: Prescription Medicine Coverage for All Canadians, Standing Committee on Health (April 2018)
Videos:
- Video featuring Rebecca Redmond, a distant relative of Dr. Frederick Banting, the discoverer of insulin. Banting dreamed of a world where insulin would be available for all. Redmond has been living with Type 1 Diabetes for nearly 25 years. Video by Emma Buchanan, 2024
- Let’s Organize for Public Pharmacare Care Now! Video by Emma Buchanan, 2023
- Recording of Pharmacare Pharmacare Now! A Town Hall hosted by Avi Lewis in London, Ontario on May 17, 2023.
- Why doesn’t Canada’s health care system include pharmacare? (3 min, CBC, 2017)
- Why Canada has such high drug prices (13 min, CBC, 2019)
- Expensive prescription drugs in Canada : Canada’s Health Care Problem (42 min, Fifth Estate CBC, 2017)
- Pharmacare 2020 videos and 2013 conference
- Marshalling the evidence for pharmacare reform in Canada, Steve Morgan video from Pharmacare 2020
- Pharmacare: Canada’s biggest unresolved health policy problem, Steve Morgan video from Pharmacare 2020
