44th Parl. 1st Sess.
September 22, 2022 10:00AM
Madam Speaker, there is good news for children in Quebec.
Quebec's system partially covers dental care for children up to the age of nine and we are proud of that. The good news is that the Canadian government is going to expand that coverage to older children and to more types of care.
Preventive health care is essential in Quebec and all across the country. We want the sick to be properly looked after, and we also want to prevent people from getting sick. The additional coverage that our government is providing through the Canada dental benefit will give hundreds of thousands of kids under the age of 12 in Quebec access to better preventive dental care.
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Madam Speaker, when we look at the legislation, it is important to note that what we are doing is helping society deal with a very serious problem. Teeth decay and surgeries as a direct result of children not having a dental plan are having a profound impact on other aspects of quality of life and health care costs.
I wonder if the member could provide her comments in regard to the benefits of helping our children at this time.
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Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments the leader has made. In listening to the debate today, it is disappointing to see that the Conservatives, in contrast to the government and the NDP, seem to not want to support our children. This bill is focused, in terms of children under 12, in providing a benefit that will truly have a positive impact. Then there were the concerns expressed by the Bloc members that the people of Quebec would not necessarily benefit from the program.
Does the leader of the New Democratic Party not agree that today it is time for us to have a national footprint on the issue of dental care and that this is a good starting point, dealing with kids under the age of 12?
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Mr. Speaker, my hon. colleague and dear friend raises a really important issue. People waiting for this care could have got it earlier. We want them to know that we are fighting for them, and by next year there will be a national federal program that will cover children 18 and under, seniors and people living with disabilities. This will provide so much help those people. As the hon. member for Victoria mentioned, it will be life-changing.
I want the family she mentioned to know that we will be fighting for it. We are going to ensure it gets that respect and dignity. We will ensure that members of the family are able to take care of their teeth. We are going to make that happen.
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Mr. Speaker, those were interesting comments, but not so much on the dental benefit, the legislation we are talking about. The member seemed to get carried away in some other areas.
Having said that, maybe I will try to get some clarification for Canadians on the issue of our children. We have a substantial piece of legislation that is going to provide dental care for thousands of children under the age of 12. To be very clear, the Conservative Party of Canada opposes this legislation. It does not support the federal government having a role in providing dental care for children under 12.
Is this the same sort of contrast we see when the Conservative Party also says it does not support child care? Does the current Conservative Party still believe that it is going to trash the national Canada child care program?
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- Sep/22/22 7:44:39 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, the government announced its intention to establish the $10-a-day child care program, and there were deals with provinces and territories in place within a year. Here we are a year later, and when it comes to mental health transfers, the Liberals still have not delivered their 2021 election promise.
Too many Canadians cannot access appropriate mental health or substance use services in a timely manner, either because they would be required to pay out of pocket or because they face long wait-lists for publicly funded care. The average wait time for adult residential treatment for substance use is 100 days.
In Ontario, there are more than 28,000 children on wait-lists for community-based mental health services that can range from 67 days to more than two and a half years depending on the service, exceeding clinically appropriate wait times. This is unacceptable. These are children.
I am calling on the government to be more transparent and to move rapidly on its $4.5-billion transfer. It is needed now. Mental health care is needed now.
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