NDP still plans to 'squeeze' as much as possible from deal with Liberals: Singh

The NDP plans to 'squeeze as much as (it) can out of the Liberals' before their confidence-and-supply agreement runs out in 2025, according to leader Jagmeet Singh.

The NDP plans to “squeeze as much as (it) can out of the Liberals” before their confidence-and-supply agreement runs out in 2025, according to leader Jagmeet Singh.

On Friday, Singh told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an interview airing Sunday, the NDP and the Liberals had reached a deal to table pharmacare framework legislation this week, with just days to go before the March 1 deadline his party had set.

Pharmacare is one of the key commitments included in the confidence-and-supply deal, penned nearly two years ago, which sees the NDP prop up the Liberals in exchange for progress on certain policies.

With a dwindling list of line items that have yet to be checked off, Kapelos asked Singh whether he plans to stay in the deal until 2025 as agreed, or add to his demands of the Liberals.

“The dental care piece, which is significant, that's not yet completely rolled out,” Singh said. “So we still need to see a rollout. We want to see people receiving that care. We want to see it work.

“The pharmacare, we've locked in these important commitments, we also want to see that happen,” he added. “So there's still more work to be done, and we want to make sure that work is completed, but we're not going to let the Liberals off the hook.”

The federal government is rolling out the Canadian Dental Care Plan in phases, but it doesn’t yet include everybody.