NDP vows to push back against health care privatization

OTTAWA — In a new election campaign pledge, Jagmeet Singh says that Canada’s health-care system would not be for sale with the New Democrats in charge.

The federal NDP leader was in Edmonton on Tuesday promising to crack down on so-called cash-for-care clinics that charge Canadians for basic services.

Singh pushed back against what he called “American-style health care” in a media statement. “Canadians believe in care over profit, and we’ll always stand up to protect our public health-care system.”

The NDP would ban American corporations from buying up Canadian health-care facilities.

Singh accused the Conservatives of backing expansion of for-profit care and said the Liberals have been happy to let provinces such as Alberta and Ontario flirt with private care models.

He said provinces that want federal funding would have to fully enforce public health-care standards under an NDP government.

Singh is also taking credit for the development of national dental care and the early stages of pharmacare in Canada — programs that were conditions of the NDP’s supply-and-confidence agreement with the Liberals in the last session of Parliament.

A day before the election campaign kicked off, the Liberals moved to expand dental care coverage to all Canadians earning a household income less than $90,000 without private insurance.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney said in Winnipeg on Tuesday that his government would maintain the pharmacare and dental care coverage already in place but did not commit to further expansions.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has said during the campaign that his party would keep the dental care program in place if elected. He has not said what he would do with pharmacare, a program he has previously promised to end.

Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island and Yukon have joined Ottawa’s national pharmacare plan to cover birth control, diabetes medications and hormone therapy for menopause.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2025.

Craig Lord, The Canadian Press