Pharmacare advocates say New Brunswick should sign a deal with the federal government or risk missing out on the money after the federal budget contained no additional spending on the program.
With only four deals signed 60 per cent of the funds are committed.
Silas Brown · CBC News
· Posted: Nov 05, 2025 3:40 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours ago
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Health Minister John Dornan says the province is still assessing the potential costs of pharmacare. (Silas Brown/CBC)
Advocates say it’s time New Brunswick signed a pharmacare deal with the federal government or risk missing out after no additional money was earmarked for the program in Tuesday’s budget.
The 2024 program included $1.5 billion over five years, which is maintained in the budget. But with only four provinces and territories signed on, about 60 per cent of that money is already spoken for.
“If they’ve missed the chance then that is an extreme failure to secure pharmacare for the people of New Brunswick,” said Green MLA Megan Mitton.
“They should be fighting to ensure that the people of New Brunswick have access to pharmacare, and so far that doesn’t seem to be the case.”
The first phase of the program includes contraceptives and some diabetes medication and requires Ottawa to reach funding deals with individual provinces.
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