Here's the deal: This week the Council of the Federation will meet in St. John's July 27-28 with one of the topics to be the National Pharmaceuticals Strategy (NPS).
Want to know more? I've got a little history, a variety of links, and a few of my own opinions of course.
First of all, it will be interesting to see if changes to the Canada Health Act will need to be made. Currently, provinces/territories receive block funding for various programs (health, education, social services) via the Canada Health and Social Transfer from the federal government. The provinces/territories are then free to adminster their various programs. (All of this stems from the fact that the provinces, under the Constitution 1867, are responsible for hospitals, asylums, chartiable institutions and the federal gov't for marine hospitals and quarantine. Saskatchewan began changing the mainly private system in 1947 with a provincial hospital care plan. All this history is summarized here.)
The Coalition for a Canadian Pharmaceutical Strategy, of which the Canadian Pharmacists Association is a part, has put forth two publications. I've skimmed both, chuckling a bit as I read between the lines, but haven't examined either in detail. (There is a Letter to the Premiers and a Framework for a NPS.)
The Gov't has put together a background reading list on some of the issues regarding Pharmacare in Canada. For the person at large, there are many points along the way that I would have hoped would be explained in more detail. The document, in its conciseness, leaves plenty of room for misinterpretation.
About.com lists the provincial/territorial prescription drug benefit plans. What ought to strike you, if you didn't (or couldn't be bothered to) compare and contrast the various plans, is that despite some basic similarities there are substantial differences in drug coverage across the country.
Personally, I can't see a NPS coming together quickly. To get everyone (provincial health ministers, NIHB, 3rd party insurance providers, advocacy groups, etc) to agree to the same processes, formularies, reimbursement strategies will simply take time--and lots of it.