2019-05-19 from cbc.ca

Advocates of pharmacare were alarmed to see Canada's federal health minister attend a gathering billed as a "national pharmacare forum" that was dominated by groups that oppose universal drug coverage. 

Ginette Petitpas Taylor gave the opening keynote address at the event last Tuesday that brought together industry groups that have a lot to lose if the original vision of a public drug plan paid for by governments is ever realized. Doctors who support such a system say they were not included.

In attendance were representatives from the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (CLHIA) and Innovative Medicines Canada (IMC), which represents Canada's pharmaceutical industry, as well as drug companies AstraZeneca and Ipsen.

Petitpas Taylor is no stranger to these groups: the CLHIA and IMC have together lobbied the federal government more than 160 times in the past 12 months, according to the lobbyist registry.

The patient lobby group Canadian Organization for Rare Diseases (CORD), which receives funding from more than 40 drug companies, was also there.

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