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       NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh records a video clip for social media during an election campaign stop at The Forks in Winnipeg on Aug. 26.

       SHANNON VANRAES/Reuters

       Jagmeet Singh says a New Democrat government would aim to implement universal pharmacare, starting next year.

       At a campaign stop Friday in Thunder Bay, Ont., the New Democrat leader said millions of Canadians can’t afford the medication they need, and that his plan would save an average family $550 per year. Singh said that he would negotiate prices with pharmaceutical companies and work with the provinces to make prescription drugs free.

       Singh said that universal pharmacare would save money for provincial health systems and for employers who provide employee benefits.

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       “I know it’s going to be hard work but it’s going to save families money, it’s going to be good for our health-care system,” said Singh. “People won’t get sick because they couldn’t get medication they needed. People won’t get even worse because they couldn’t maintain their health.

       “It will save money for everyone and it will make sure that everyone has a better quality of life.”

       Singh said that the plan would cost the federal government $10 billion but would ultimately save the provinces $4.2 billion. Universal pharmacare is part of a sweeping NDP pledge to create national plans for dental and mental health care, and seeks to distinguish New Democrats from a Liberal party that has stressed similar issues and included pharmacare in its platform as far back as 1997.

       Singh has pointed to NDP moves in the House that were opposed by Liberal and Tory MPs over the past year, including a private member’s bill to usher in universal drug coverage and a motion to abolish for-profit long-term care.

       “The Liberals have this strategy: ‘Why deliver something when we can just promise it?”’ said Singh. “That’s what they’ve done time and time again. They’re like, ‘We’ll just promise pharmacare, we’ll get some votes,’ and then when they get a chance to do something about it they vote against it.”

       The Conservatives’ platform says they will negotiate constructively with the industry to cut drug prices while the Liberal budget in April repeated the government’s 2019 pledge of $500 million for a program covering high-cost drugs for rare diseases.

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