Experts say that a year into the Liberal-NDP deal, which was originally slated to extend to 2025, it looks like pharmacare has become the carrot that Liberals dangle in front of New Democrats to keep their support.

They question whether Liberals will actually pass legislation, even if they introduce it.

“I think everyone sees the writing on the wall with this one,” said Miljan.

At the end of the day, the Liberal government isn’t going to give the NDP everything it wants, said David McGrane, political studies professor at the University of Saskatchewan — because, he said, the government doesn’t want to give the impression that it’s being controlled.

“The Liberals have been going very slowly with pharmacare,” McGrane said. “They’re doing as little as possible, but enough to fulfill the deal.”

Plus, he pointed out, the Liberals may want to keep the prospective policy in their back pocket to use in future election campaigns.

While pharmacare might not be the “centrepiece” of the next Liberal campaign, he said, “Why not run another election and say, ‘We’ll make progress on pharmacare’?

“If you get the pharmacare deal done, you can’t run on it in the next election.”