New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh warned today that if Justin Trudeau's Liberal government does not respect the new deadline ending next month, which his party agreed to, to announce the comprehensive pharmacare program, this means that the agreement between the two parties will have been "breached."

"If the agreement is breached, then all terms of the agreement have been breached," Singh responded to a journalist who asked if Trudeau's government not respecting the new deadline mentioned would exempt his party from the obligation to support the government's upcoming general budget.

It is noted that the agreement made in March 2022 between the ruling Canadian Liberal Party and the left-leaning New Democratic Party guarantees Trudeau's government, which is a minority government, to remain in power until 2025, i.e., until the end of its term, through systematic support from New Democratic Party MPs in critical voting operations in the House of Commons, including the budget vote.

The agreement between the two parties is not a coalition, which means that the New Democratic Party does not join the government and therefore does not lead any ministry.

However, in exchange for the support that the New Democrats pledged to provide to the government, the Liberals committed, under the agreement, to achieve a series of things, such as launching a comprehensive pharmacare system and a dental services system for low-income Canadians and adopting measures to facilitate Canadians' access to housing.

Basically, the agreement stipulated the adoption of the "Canada Pharmacare Act by the end of 2023." It was then agreed that the national drug agency would be tasked with "developing a national formulary and a bulk purchasing plan by the end of the agreement."

As the deadline for adopting the pharmacare act approaches, the New Democratic Party agreed to give the government an additional deadline ending on March 1, 2024, to present a bill on this topic.

"We have been clear. This is the deadline, and they have to deliver," Singh said today before journalists ahead of a scheduled meeting with Trudeau, meaning that the government must present the bill within the new deadline.

It appears that the main sticking point in the negotiations between the two parties so far is the New Democratic Party's insistence on comprehensive single-payer pharmacare, where costs are covered for all Canadians through a single public system.

This is the model recommended by the Canadian Advisory Council on the National Pharmacare System in 2019.

However, Federal Health Minister Mark Holland has repeatedly spoken about the need for the government to be cautious in terms of spending.