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    • The Liberal-NDP deal is dead. What did it accomplish?

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    The Liberal-NDP deal is dead.

    NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh revealed Wednesday that he’s “ripped up” the supply and confidence agreement with the Liberals. With this major parliamentary pact now caput, here’s a look at everything the deal accomplished — and what’s been left unfinished.

    The parties inked the deal in March 2022, seeing the NDP prop up the minority Liberals and prevent an election in exchange for progress on certain policies.

    But after years of steadfast support, with the Liberals slumping in the polls, the NDP increasingly critical of them – plus public pressure from the Conservatives to scrap the pact – it is officially no more.

    Here’s a look at what the deal — which had been set to expire in June of next year — got done.  

    Dental care

    A national dental care program was one of the keystones of the confidence-and-supply agreement, with plans to roll out coverage, especially for children, seniors, and low-income Canadians.

    The Liberals have touted it as one of the largest social programs in Canadian history, and as part of a phased rollout, began accepting claims for dental coverage for seniors in May.

    Eligibility then expanded to children under the age of 18 and Canadians with a valid Disability Tax Credit certificate in June, with remaining eligible Canadians scheduled to gain access in 2025.

    The program faced early criticism from dentists for what they say was an administrative burden, along with confusion over its reimbursement model. However, the federal government announced last month that more than 2.3 million Canadians have been approved for coverage and more than 75 per cent of dental care providers are now participating in the program. 

    The federal government has committed $13 billion over five years for the program, starting in 2023-24, and is budgeting $4.4 billion annually going forward.

    Pharmacare

    After extensive negotiations and deadline extensions to table a framework bill, the Liberals moved ahead with the Pharmacare Act in the spring.

    Singh has called the plan — which outlines the "foundational principles" of a national universal drug coverage plan, but does not directly implement one — “historic.”

     

    NDP leader Jagmeet Singh meets with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Thursday, Nov. 14, 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

    The legislation includes a commitment to first launch diabetes medication and birth control coverage for Canadians, through a single-payer system, contingent on provincial and territorial agreement.

    The bill has passed the House of Commons, but was left on-hold in the Senate when it broke for the summer.

    The Parliamentary Budget Officer has estimated the plan could cost taxpayers billions of dollars annually, and some provinces have said they plan to opt out of the national program if it is implemented.

    Enshrining child care

    The Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act — which received royal assent in March — enshrines into law the Liberals’ cornerstone social program commitment to the Canada-wide early learning and child-care system.

    The legislation was a requirement under the confidence-and-supply agreement, and goes beyond existing $10-a-day daycare bilateral agreements between the federal and provincial governments, laying out a guiding set of principles to create more spaces.  

    While childcare has become more affordable for parents, Statistics Canada data indicates finding a care space has become increasingly challenging.

    Anti-scab protections

    In May, MPs unanimously voted to pass a bill designed to ban federal employers from using replacement workers — also known as “scabs” — during lockouts or strikes.  

    Then-labour minister Seamus O’Regan touted the legislation as “the biggest thing to happen to collective bargaining in Canada in decades,” while celebrating the all-party support for the bill.

    The new protections are set to apply to an estimated one million employees, working for approximately 22,350 federally regulated employers, excluding the public service, and allows for some narrow exceptions as they relate to health or safety cases.

    Building more homes

    The Housing Accelerator Fund was initially announced as part of the Liberal campaign platform during the 2021 election, with the goal of boosting housing supply in a bid to improve affordability and increasing efforts to get the plan off the ground was stitched into the deal with the NDP.

    But the program — which incentivizes municipalities to speed up new housing builds by cutting red tape and updating their zoning and permit systems — had no earmarked funds until the 2022 federal budget as part of a larger, $10-billion housing-focused package.

    New Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks in the Foyer of the House of Commons about the NSICOP report, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Patrick Doyle / The Canadian Press)

    And the first project — a $74-million deal with London, Ont. — was only announced last September.

    Singh, at the time, called it a “good start,” and the Liberals have since announced partnerships with several other municipalities as part of the fund.

    Sick leave for some workers

    When the Liberals and NDP signed their deal in early 2022, they signalled that ensuring 10 paid sick days for federally regulated workers would be one of the first promises on the docket.

    The permanent change to the Labour Code came into effect by December of that year.

    Some industries, however, have argued the protected paid sick leave should extend beyond federally-regulated workplaces.

    What didn’t get done?

    While the NDP pull-out comes after the vast majority of the confidence-and-supply deal line items have been checked off, some are being left at the table.

    Progress has been made on a number of other initiatives — including drafting a Homebuyer’s Bill of Rights, proposing sustainable job supports, and a slate of proposals geared toward advancing Indigenous Reconciliation efforts — though aspects of these policies have yet to be fully realized.

    Further, a bill that includes a range of electoral reform initiatives is still working through the House with amendments ahead, and the pledged safe long-term care act has yet to be tabled.

    With files from ۴ý National Correspondent Rachel Aiello and ۴ý Supervising Producer Stephanie Ha

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