The right course of treatment

Bruce Campion-Smith reports that Jack Layton is continuing the NDP's push for a national prescription drug program by meeting with premiers to win their support. And the results so far look extremely promising:

NDP Leader Jack Layton is meeting with provincial premiers to drum up support for a national drug plan that would help Canadians cope with the cost of filling their prescriptions.

Layton says he's heard encouraging words already from Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams, whom he met last month, and from British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. He plans to meet soon with Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert.

"We think it's time to move," Layton said. "We intend to persevere until we get the kind of coverage that all Canadians deserve."

In a speech yesterday, Layton warned that rising drug costs are not just straining health budgets, they have also meant that many patients are unable to afford the drugs they need to get healthy.

Of course, it shouldn't be much surprise if the provinces are onside with the idea - after all, they already agreed to the prospect of a prescription drug plan in 2004. But Layton is rightly selling the message that it'll take active pressure to get anything in place.

And so far, that message seems to be resonating. Most importantly, Campbell's apparent receptiveness highlights the fact that active support for the plan cuts across ideological lines among pundits and politicians alike. And if Layton can sustain a public push over a summer when the federal Cons are in desperate need of policy ideas, then it's far from impossible that prescription drugs could finally be on the table this fall.