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Justin Trudeau:
First of all, we've seen this is a national public health crisis. There's
no question that it is something that we are all, as Canadians
struggling with. It is insidious and it ends up affecting, as you say,
far, far too many people right across the country, right across the
socioeconomic spectrum, but you're right. Because of workplace
injuries, there is a high prevalence amongst workers in your industry
and that's something we have to address. First of all, you've done
good work with Health Canada in education awareness, de-
stigmatization which is really going to be important as well, but the
opioid crisis goes beyond obviously just your industry. There's also
no single silver bullet to fix it. We know that partnership with labour,
with local public health agencies, with provinces, with
municipalities, with international partners. We've invested in
international partnerships. We've given more tools to physicians
and medical practitioners, both to prescribe alternatives and to look
at other solutions. We've provided, encourage providing naloxone
to frontline first responders. We've invested in frontline services.
We continue to recognize that harm reduction and safe
consumption sites are an essential part of the solution as well
Ontario, there needs to be more help from the Federal Government
based on science, and that's where there's ideological
on that and that happens right across the country.
disagreements with some conservatives, but we stay focused on
recognizing that the science says this saves lives and we're going There is a lot more to do. We're very excited about what the
to keep doing that. advisory council on the implementation of national PharmaCare
came forward with. Dr. Eric Hoskins' report is ambitious and is
But there's a lot more to do. We've put millions of dollars, hundreds
where we need to go, and we are going to be moving forward on
of millions of dollars in partnerships with provinces and
that. We believe in universal PharmaCare. We think that is the path
municipalities, but we all have to be more aware of this challenge.
we need to get to. It's going to take a phased implementation. It's
We all have to make sure we're doing everything we can to support
going to require that we do some things as we have. We continue
our colleagues, our communities, and people right across the
to do them. It's also going to require the participation of the
country.
provinces. Just like when we set up Medicare in the beginning, it
Peter: was one province at a time signing on. Some resisted a long time
The advisory council on the implementation of national pharmacare and we ended up with a national system. I'm hopeful we're going
submitted its final report in June 2019 and Budget 2019 advanced to be able to move forward quickly, but on something like this, it is
some of the preliminary steps towards the implementation of a going to require a partnership with the provinces.
national pharmacare program. What are the next steps and when
Peter:
can Canadians expect a national pharmacare program?
The government has approved the Trans Mountain Expansion
Justin Trudeau: Project, a sector where our members are highly skilled, trained, and
This is another area where I want to thank the labour movement have the experience to build it safely, productively, and quickly. Your
and the CBTU particularly for their advocacy on PharmaCare. There government has expended and committed millions of dollars to
are Canadians who make the impossible choices between paying building up-skill capacity in the trades and a steady emphasis on
for their medications and paying for their groceries, and that is youth and underrepresented groups. There is a direct parallel
unacceptable in a wealthy country like Canada. between your commitments and the importance of Canada's
Building Trades Members doing that work. It makes sense because
That's why over the past few years, we have taken a number of
we support, mentor, and turn out more apprentices than any other
concrete steps. We've strengthened purchasing power across the
industry and more than our competitors. Will community benefits
country to lower drug prices which has made a difference. We just
agreements and employment equity plans be mandated
recently updated and strengthened the patent medicine price
requirements for this project?
protection regime that is going to save Canadians $13 billion over
the next 10 years in prescription drugs. In Budget 2019, we moved Justin Trudeau:
forward with two essential steps that move us towards the universal I think we all recognize the first priority is actually getting the Trans
national PharmaCare program, which is a Canadian drug agency Mountain Pipeline built. It has been a challenge to say the least
that will create a national formulary working with the provinces to over the past number of years to get this project to move forward,
establish the drugs that work and get good prices for those. So and our priority and our reason for taking on ownership of this
we'd drive down costs as well as we've stepped up for the high- project was so that we could actually ensure that it did get built,
cost rare disease drugs that are increasingly challenging for both for the jobs it's going to create while we're building it but also
provinces. If there's six kids being treated with a particular drug in for the economic benefits that come from getting our oil resources
to new markets other than the United States.

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