Petitpas Taylor wouldn’t say exactly when consultations would begin or how much time the council would have before turning their attention to the report.
In the coming weeks, Canadians will be invited to share their views on pharmacare through an online questionnaire and through written submissions. After that, the council will meet with Canadians, health care experts, patients, stakeholders, and provincial, territorial and Indigenous leaders across Canada.
Hassan Yussuff, president of the Canadian Labour Congress, said he hopes the council will set up town hall events and allow Canadians to share their stories in person.
He said his organization, which has advocated for a national pharmacare program, is hoping to hear more details, and welcomed the timing of the final report, since it will coincide nicely with the 2019 election.
“Mark my words, like it or not, this will be an election issue,” Yussuff said. “It’s not a bad thing that Canadians are debating this in the time of choosing their government.”
The government has tapped a physician, former provincial ministers and policy experts to make up its new advisory council on the implementation of a national pharmacare program.
The members include Nadine Caron, Canada’s first female Indigenous surgeon from the University of British Columbia, and Mia Homsy, the director general of the Institute du Quebec.
Camille Orridge, a senior fellow at the Wellesley Institute, is also a member as well as Diana Whalen, Nova Scotia’s former deputy premier and finance minister.
Other members include Vincent Dumez, the co-director of the Centre of Excellence on Partnership with Patients and the Public at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montreal, and John Wright, former deputy minister of health and deputy minister of finance for the Saskatchewan government.
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