Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the government is 鈥渘ot ruling out鈥� making national pharmacare an election promise.
He made the comment during an interview with Evan Solomon on CTV鈥檚 Question Period, on Sunday.
鈥淸Pharmacare has] been, now, something we鈥檝e been working on for more than a year and we鈥檙e making really important first steps,鈥� Morneau said.
The government released its 2019 budget on Tuesday. Funds for the beginning of a pharmacare program were widely expected to be contained in the budget, but what the budget actually unveiled were only the very preliminary steps in that direction.
Among them was the creation of a Canadian Drug Agency tasked with determining a list of best-cost-per-value pharmaceuticals for Canadians and a national strategy for making drugs for rare diseases more affordable.
The seemingly lackluster pharmacare announcement sparked speculation that the Liberals might be setting national pharmacare aside until they can deploy it to tantalize voters in the fall election.
When Solomon pressed Morneau on the likelihood of spotting pharmacare on the Liberal Party鈥檚 2019 election platform, he said 鈥渨e鈥檙e not ruling that out.鈥�
However, according to former Alberta premier Alison Redford, it鈥檚 easier said than done.
鈥淪ome of the issues that they tried to raise in the budget are very complicated issues that will take time to implement like pharmacare, that鈥檚 something that takes years to do, regardless of how quickly you want to do it. You have to negotiate with the provinces and that sort of thing,鈥� Redford said.
That difficulty is reflected in the way the budget describes the government鈥檚 new Canadian Drug Agency. The Agency will work in collaboration with the provinces and territories to figure out how to lower the cost of drugs.
鈥淒ealing with costs is critically important鈥e鈥檝e started with the first really important step and there is more to do, but we鈥檙e going to get at that,鈥� Morneau said.
First Home Incentive might leave room for CMHC profit
This freshly unveiled budget also revealed measures that the government claims will help young people to buy their first home.
The First-Time Home Buyer Incentive will allow buyers -- who have the minimum down payment for a mortgage -- to finance 10 per cent on a new home or five per cent on an existing home through a shared equity mortgage with the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation.
The incentive is supposed to lower buyers鈥� monthly mortgage payments through the help of what the government has been describing as an interest-free loan.
However, Morneau hinted that the loan might not be what it seems.
When asked whether an increase in the equity value of a home would mean the CMHC gets more money back upon its sale, Morneau would not confirm that the amount owed would remain the same.
鈥淲e still have more work to do to make sure we get the terms and conditions -- that鈥檚 how shared equity mortgages work in the market,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here will be some sense of upside and downside for CMHC.鈥�
With files from Rachel Aiello
