Liberal government announces six member pharmacare advisory council

OTTAWA—The federal 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. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor announced the creation of the new group alongside the advisory council's chair, former Ontario health minister Eric Hoskins, at an event Wednesday in the foyer of the House of Commons. Petitpas Taylor says prescription drugs are not covered in a consistent way across the country and too many Canadians cannot pay for medicine they need. The advisory council will spend the next few months consulting with provinces, territories, Indigenous leaders, health experts and Canadians. Its final report next spring will provide the government with recommendations on how to implement 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.