In a shocking admission, Health Minister Mark Holland has ripped off the budget band-aid and exposed the real cost of the pharmacare deal – and it’s an injury to the fiscal health of this nation!

After originally insisting the plan would cost a paltry $1.5 billion, the Minister finally confessed that the price tag could balloon dramatically higher. Turns out the Liberals-NDP historic pharmacare pact has no binding cap on costs whatsoever!

This stunning revelation betrays the massive scale of deception used to sell Canadians on national drug coverage. In truth, the plan amounts to a blank check for uncontrolled future healthcare spending.

With this frank admission, Minister Holland has exposed the great pharmacare cost sham. The paltry $1.5 billion figure is merely a budgetary mirage – the real price will be countless billions in reckless deficit spending.

Canadians deserve full transparency about the costs they will shoulder, not more Liberal fiscal sorcery and deception. The health minister’s confession has pulled back the curtain on this government’s addiction to debt. Canadians must demand credible accounting, not just another act in the tragic Liberal circus of budgetary delusion.

Subduing the Provinces

The recent reveal of the Liberal-NDP national pharmacare plan is terrible news for healthcare freedom in Canada. Even though multiple provinces objected, Health Minister Mark Holland is still forcing through his pet project by tying healthcare funding to joining the new national drug program.

This obvious overstep into provincial territory threatens to damage Canada’s constitutional decentralized healthcare system that has served people well for decades.

Let’s be clear – this plan isn’t really about improving prescription drug access. It’s the brainchild of socialist thinkers in the NDP who found willing partners in the big-spending Trudeau Liberals.

Jagmeet Singh’s lifelong dream of government-run healthcare now has the full support of the Prime Minister’s Office. And the regular people of the provinces are stuck in the middle.

From the start, the NDP made national pharmacare the main part of their deal to keep the minority Liberal government in power. Trudeau and Singh made this alliance official in March 2021 by signing the Supply and Confidence Agreement.

Buried in the fine print of this document was a commitment to “begin the process of implementing national universal pharmacare in 2022” and to “pass legislation for it by the end of 2023.”

At the time, many doubted Trudeau’s willingness to follow through on an NDP priority that carried a massive price tag. After all, the Liberals had ignored calls for pharmacare from eminent experts for decades. Even their 2019 election platform pledged only to implement “a universal prescription drug plan.”

But things changed when Jagmeet Singh held the balance of power in Parliament. Now, Trudeau seems ready to bankrupt the country to hold on to power for another term.

The resulting legislation, Bill C-31, establishes the framework for a new federal drug agency empowered to develop and run a national pharmacare plan. While details remain vague, the NDP has made no secret of their goal – forced inclusion of all Canadians in a government-controlled monopoly.

Singh dreams of completing his late father’s mission to socialize Canadian medicine through bureaucratic control.

And Holland is only too happy to support this ideological crusade. When announcing the legislation, he proclaimed universal pharmacare will become reality in Canada and spoke excitedly of partnering with the NDP on this historic initiative.

He seems unaware that healthcare clearly falls under provincial jurisdiction under the Constitution. The federal government has no authority to unilaterally design and implement a nationwide drug plan.

Multiple provinces have already voiced their objections. Alberta Health Minister Adriana LaGrange stated that her province wants no part of this new federal intrusion into provincial affairs. She rightly said- “Give us the dollars, Allow us to enhance the programs we actually have now, rather than create more bureaucracy.”

Jason Kenney’s government will not accept what they see as an unconstitutional federal takeover of Alberta health care.

Quebec has also refused to participate. The CAQ government does not want to give up control over prescription drug coverage for Quebecers. Right now, their provincial plan covers many people and has generous subsidies based on income.

Quebec sees no benefit in abandoning their popular program for Holland’s one-size-fits-all model forced on them from Ottawa.

Even the normally Liberal-friendly Ontario government expressed concern about joining the national pharmacare plan.

With an election looming, Health Minister Sylvia Jones stopped short of endorsing the federal scheme. She emphasized that her government “needs to see what is proposed and how it matches with the Ontario system.” Other provinces like Saskatchewan also want more details before signing on.

This lack of interest from the provinces is a major roadblock for Holland’s pharmacare dream.

Under the Constitution, healthcare clearly falls under provincial jurisdiction. The federal government can only convince, not force, provinces to join a national drug plan.

And most provinces already cover prescription drugs through a mix of public and private plans. A federal takeover doesn’t make much sense.

But Holland has a solution – withhold healthcare funding from uncooperative provinces. When announcing the legislation, he directly stated the Canada Health Transfer will become the main way universal access to prescription drugs will be funded.

In other words, provinces have to give up control over prescription drug coverage in exchange for money they already get for other healthcare spending.

This is basically holding the provinces hostage to force them to adopt pharmacare. It shows an appalling lack of respect for the division of responsibilities under the Constitution. The Canada Health Act was meant to establish national healthcare principles, not allow federal micromanagement. Holland is exploiting federal spending power to blur jurisdictional lines.

Holland Exposes pharmacare Cost

Holland’s own words reveal the $1.5 billion pharmacare price tag is a facade. He openly admits the program is set to cost around $1.5 billion but he noted it could change depending on negotiations with the provinces. This clearly signals costs will skyrocket much higher.

Once again, the Liberals intentionally lowball their initial estimate, knowing it will balloon later. When challenged on the inevitable cost overruns, they will feign ignorance and dodge accountability.

This reeks of the same incompetence and gross mismanagement that led to the ArriveCan debacle. Canadians should brace themselves for billions more in wasted tax dollars once the real price tag comes due.

Just like with ArriveCan, the Liberals try to lowball the initial cost estimate, knowing full well it will balloon out of control later. Then they block requests for information and hide embarrassing details in secrecy. Does anyone really think the $1.5 billion figure won’t mushroom into tens of billions in runaway expenses? This has “budget crisis” written all over it.

And we know any attempt to demand accountability from the Liberals will be met with dodging and denial. They’ll continue the disturbing pattern of thumbing their noses at transparency and fiscal responsibility. The last thing they want is for taxpayers to see the black hole of waste their misguided pharmacare dream is plunging into.

Canadians are rightly upset that $54 million of public money was burned on an unnecessary app that provided zero value. Now we face the prospect of billions more vanishing into the federal government’s bureaucratic black hole. And this time it’s not just about software, but funding prescription drugs for the whole country.

Just look at how costs spun out of control with ArriveCan. Contracts exploded from thousands to millions of dollars with little oversight. The well-connected profited massively while taxpayers funded the waste. The same story will repeat with pharmacare on an even bigger scale.

Clearly, the Liberal-NDP alliance doesn’t care about imposing financial hardship on Canadians to fulfill their socialist utopia. And the power-hungry Trudeau Liberals will gladly bankrupt the nation to cling to power for another two years. But Canada’s premiers must stand up for provincial autonomy and fiscal prudence.

The reckless push for free meth in British Columbia shows the dangerous slippery slope of government-funded drug programs. Henry’s vague non-denial about giving out prescription meth through “safer supply” hints at the out-of-control scope pharmacare could reach under the Liberals.

Just as Henry refuses to rule out taxpayer-funded meth despite no evidence, Holland seems unfazed by the lack of proof his pharmacare plan will work. The similarities are striking – both are ideologically-driven schemes with no science backing them up. And both risk unintended consequences from giving away addictive substances for free.

The BC report openly acknowledges safer supply fuels black market drug diversion yet still recommends expanding it. This willful blindness mirrors the Liberals charging ahead with their pharmacare dream despite clear risks like cost overruns and provincial objections.

Evidence and ethics take a backseat when zealous bureaucrats like Henry and Holland get fixated on utopian visions. Meth today, cocaine tomorrow – it’s a slippery slope when you ignore facts and common sense. National pharmacare will clearly spiral out of control under the Liberals, just as safer supply has in BC.

Canadians see the dangerous precedents being set in British Columbia. Free recreational opioids and stimulants distributed without oversight or accountability. Now meth may be next. This is a cautionary tale about what happens when ideological crusades dominate policy making.

The Canada Health Act does not give Ottawa power to design and control prescription drug coverage across the country. Holland’s attempt to use federal spending to override provincial jurisdiction is unconstitutional and unethical. This heavy-handed pharmacare legislation must be strongly opposed by anyone who cares about cooperative federalism.

Canadians deserve affordable prescription drugs and top quality healthcare. But reaching these goals does not require unconstitutional federal overreach. Ottawa must respect the division of powers and work together with willing provinces. Forcing pharmacare at gunpoint is legislative violence that may permanently damage provincial relations.