WATCH THE EVENT HERE: 

 

Before the pandemic, one in every five Canadians wasn’t taking the medicine they needed because they couldn’t afford to pay for it. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of Canadians have lost their jobs and their workplace drug coverage. No one should have to face the impossible choice between paying rent or taking the essential medication that their doctor has prescribed.

The Canada Pharmacare Act -C-213- is ground-breaking new federal legislation specifying the conditions and criteria that provincial and territorial prescription drug insurance programs must meet to receive federal funding. It lays the foundation for Pharmacare to be similar to our universal health care system. This includes the core principles of public administration, comprehensiveness, universality, portability, and accessibility. It is a crucial first step to enacting universal Pharmacare in Canada. With the pandemic, this bill is more important than ever.

Bill C-213 is reaching a critical period in the legislative process. Parliament will vote on this legislation in 30 days. We need your help! This legislation will not be enacted unless 170 MPs vote yes on C-213.  Will you join us at this E Rally via Zoom, and help us to lobby MPs to support this important legislation? 

 

Featured Speakers: 

 

Jagmeet Singh 

 

 

Jagmeet is a lawyer, a human rights activist and the Leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party. Jagmeet Singh grew up in Scarborough, St. John’s, and Windsor, and served as an Ontario MPP from 2011 until 2017. On October 1st, 2017, he became leader of Canada’s NDP – guided by values rooted in his experiences growing up, Jagmeet is building a fairer, more just Canada where everyone can realize their dreams.

 

Linda Silas

 

 

Linda Silas has been the President of the 200,000-strong Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU) since 2003. As the dynamic and charismatic leader of Canada’s largest nurses’ organization, Linda is recognized as the foremost advocate on behalf of nurses in Canada. Linda champions greater understanding and action on social justice, the social determinants of health and key policies that will enhance socio-economic equity, such as retirement security for all workers, a national pharmacare program, universal child care and greater access to public services for Indigenous communities.

 

Marie Clarke Walker

 

 

From an early age, Marie Clarke Walker has fought for equality and social justice. She followed in the footsteps of her mother, a retired trade union activist and feminist and her father, a lawyer who has represented workers all his life. This exposure informed her working life and has resulted in a career spanning four decades of breaking boundaries and fighting injustice. Marie is a published author, Vice-President (Labour) of a national political party, and is both the first racialized woman to be elected Executive Vice-President and the youngest officer in CLC history. Marie served as Executive Vice-President for five terms before being elected Secretary-Treasurer in 2017, making her the first racialized woman to hold the position. Alongside her work in Canada, Marie is a Titular Member on the International Labour Organization (ILO) Governing Body, and as the Worker Vice-Chair of their annual conference, she helped to negotiate the historic Convention and Recommendation on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work. Family and community are central to Marie’s life. As the proud mother of two sons, she is a dedicated “femtor” and a staunch believer that social justice is essential to universal and lasting peace.

 

Dr. Nima Machouf

 

 

Nima Machouf is a lecturer at École de santé publique de l’Université de Montréal (ESPUM). She is an epidemiologist and has worked on AIDS and HIV for over 20 years. She is also politically active and ran for the NDP in Québec in the last federal election. She is a strong defender of the public health care system and services, and thinks that health is a right not a privilege.