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SACA IT TO ME — When the House revs back to a furious roar on Monday, the Liberals will have just 20 sitting days to put forward their long-promised pharmacare legislation.
If the government misses the end-of-year target, it will run up against the deadline set in the Supply and Confidence Agreement that has the NDP propping it up in Parliament. NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH said Wednesday that the main sticking point in negotiations between the parties remains that the Liberals “want to bring in legislation that appeases the big pharmaceutical industry.” “We don't want to appease them. We want to make sure Canadians can afford their medication.” — First pass rejected: Singh told reporters in Toronto Wednesday that after his party read the first draft, they “made it very clear” it was “insufficient for our support.” His health critic DON DAVIES was emphatic at the party’s convention a month back in the Hammer in drawing a line in the sand: “nothing less” than a single-payer system. And he’s been even more pointed in his pharma push, saying on Oct. 23 on a friendly podcast with fellow social democratic TOM PARKIN that he’s “never seen a government that is more beholden to Big Pharma than this Trudeau Liberal government.” — Numbers check: Check the polls (your choice — they’re all playing the same tune) and the NDP appears to have a decent bargaining chip, albeit they’re trailing. Check the fundraising stats, and the dippers are behind the pack, as usual. A recent fundraising email from National Director ANNE MCGRATH acknowledges the Tories are ahead and that the NDP need cash to battle for blue-orange ridings. “I won’t sugarcoat it for you — PIERRE POILIEVRE is riding a wave by capitalizing on years of Liberal party delays and disappointments,” the email’s pitch begins. The NDP also isn’t showing signs it’s gearing up for an imminent election (not that pulling out of SACA would necessarily mean the government would immediately fall).Although, the Conservatives sent out fundraising pitches after the Liberals announced their national campaign committee co-chairs: “It’s clear that JUSTIN TRUDEAU is planning for the next election,” and “the Liberals would like nothing more than to catch us by surprise.” — Last-minute deal?: Brinkmanship is a common bedfellow in politics, and it’s not clear just how hard the end-of-year deadline will be for the two parties. Health Minister MARK HOLLAND has been careful when talking about negotiations, refusing to dish details and last week calling pharmacare a “vastly complex question.” — Cupboards are bare: Holland has also acknowledged money will be tight. “We have to be very cognizant of what is possible fiscally.”Playbook reached out to both Davies and Holland Wednesday for interviews; neither were available.But an official in Holland’s office said inter-party relations are good, the timing right now is on track and they still hope to present a bill in the House by year’s end. “Conversations are going really well,” the official told Playbook. — Final countdown?: But what if the deadline is blown? For the Liberal government, it will be business as usual, Playbook is informed. That would put the ball in the NDP’s court. — Spoiler: Technically, the deadline is already broken, since the law most certainly won’t pass by year’s end. — Tough pill to swallow: In a theatrical end to the final constituency week of fall, the Council of Canadians is holding a made-for-TV rally at Holland’s office in Ajax, featuring a “giant 6-foot-tall inflatable medicine bottle with a prescription for public pharmacare.” “Participating organizations will also deliver tens of thousands of petition signatures calling for a public, universal pharmacare plan inside a pill-bottle-shaped box,” the media advisory reads. | 
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