44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 6, 2024 11:00AM
- May/6/24 1:48:22 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the NDP has been championing public, affordable, accessible child care for decades. While I agree that there are not enough spots being created, I have seen more created in the last six years than I ever saw created under any Conservative government. That is for sure.
I do not really understand the premise of my hon. colleague's last question when she said that dental care does not exist. I read stories over the weekend and saw pictures of seniors who had been to the dentist and were showing copies of their bills that were paid for by the Canada dental care program. I do not know what she means about dentists not signing up. The last I heard was that 6,500 dentists across this country have signed up and, frankly, there is no more requirement to sign up for the program. Dentists can just automatically enrol in the program by billing their first customer.
The NDP fought for nine million Canadians, during this Parliament, to be able to go to the dentist for the first time. To us, dental care is primary health care. Every Canadian should have the right to get their oral health needs met, regardless of their ability to pay. At the end of this Parliament, we will be able to go to Canadians on their doorsteps and tell them how the NDP helped to get dental care for nine million Canadians. I am going to tell them that the Conservatives voted against dental care, that they thought it was a bad idea and that they will take it away from them. That is not illusory.
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- May/6/24 3:01:53 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I want to start by thanking the member for Richmond Hill, who has been such an incredible advocate in making sure that all Canadians get the oral health care they deserve.
In the first three days, we have had extraordinary results. More than 15,000 seniors, just in the first three days, have already gotten service. When we think about that, it is a fundamental issue with dignity and prevention. Those are seniors who are not going to wind up in a hospital room.
We need to continue that momentum. More than 8,000 dentists have now signed up, with more and more signing up every day. We are going to get to—
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- May/6/24 3:36:29 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his work on this legislation. Specifically, I want to take an opportunity to thank the member for Vancouver Kingsway for his work as well.
Canadians expect parliamentarians to work together to get results, to get the services and the care that they need. It is fine that the Conservatives are going to vote against dental care or vote against pharmacare, which means they are voting against medication for diabetes and against women getting access to the contraceptives they need. It is bad enough that they would vote against it, but to block it actively, to block the elected will of the House to be able to get care to people, is extremely disturbing.
I will talk about dental care. It was really revealing to talk to dentists across the country who had been filled with misinformation, and who were shocked by how easy it is to use the dental care plan. The reason that confusion, in many cases, exists is because of the confusion deliberately being pumped into it.
Again, I would say this to the Conservatives: It is fine that they do not want people to get diabetes medication, they do not want seniors to get dental care and they do not want people to be able to get access to the contraceptives that they need. That is one thing, but they should allow the House to do its work, allow us to move the legislation forward and allow us to make sure that those people who need care get care.
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- May/6/24 5:59:48 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member talked about a lack of consultation around the dental care program. How much consultation did he do?
Do members know what I did when the program was released? I wanted to make sure dentists in my riding knew about it. I wrote all of them a letter. My team followed up with them. We encouraged them to get involved. I visited a number of dentists. As a result, 41 dentists in my riding, which is more than half of them, are on the dental care program.
How much consultation on the dental care program did the member do in his riding, or did he not care enough about his constituents to bother making sure that they knew they had access to the new service, regardless of which political party brought it?
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- May/6/24 6:00:33 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member said he had 40 dentists sign up. Based on the numbers that I provided, 65 dentists in all of Ontario have signed up. It sounds like, in the Kingston area, most of the dentists have signed up for it. They are the only ones; it is interesting. The member should look at the number of dentists in Ontario. It is significantly more than 65.
To answer his question, I did consult with my colleagues in my riding, because I do happen to be their colleague. I spent many years as a professional dealing with dentists. They are all asking whether the government is stepping forward to make socialized dental care in Canada so that all dentists would have to be mandated to apply and get paid what the government says.
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- May/6/24 6:02:18 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I apologize if I missed something in the translation, but I did not recognize an actual question in the statement by the member.
I think, ultimately, as the member has indicated, that we need to remember the fact that health care is a provincial issue. Dental care is health care, and it is a provincial responsibility to deal with it. The provinces determine who the professionals will be and how they will be regulated. That is up to the professional bodies, whether it is for the dentists, the chiropractors, the physical therapists, the doctors or the dental hygienists. The plans are determined by the provinces, as Quebec has done. We need to recognize that and continue to focus on the fact that it is the provinces' responsibility to make those decisions; it is not for the federal government to invade and intrude in that area.
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- May/6/24 6:05:37 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I believe, if you seek it, you will find unanimous consent to table this document showing the total number of dentists in Toronto alone, which is well over 500, who are under the current program, despite what the member for Souris—Moose Mountain said.
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- May/6/24 6:15:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, one of the things I find most perplexing about this entire debate is that not only are Conservatives against this bill, but it is as though they are actively rooting for its policy failure. It is like they are downplaying how many dentists have signed up. They are downplaying the impact this would have on Canadians. They keep saying that only one out of every five Canadians wants this, as though it is not a good thing to do something when one out of five Canadians wants it.
I wonder if the member can make sense of all this, the fact that Conservatives are not just against the bill but are actively rooting for the failure of this program.
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- May/6/24 9:35:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, it is always a pleasure to rise on behalf of the people of Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo.
Before I begin, I would like to recognize two very wonderful young men from my riding, both of whom received the Chief Scout's Award, one being Shawn Hodgkiss, who managed to collect over 1,000 pounds of food for the food bank, and another named Jared Roberts, who volunteered with The Loop and Our Street Church. I congratulate them. They are now in Hansard to reflect their incredible achievement.
At the end of the day, the Liberals have spoken so much about doing so many things, yet they have executed everything so poorly. We have had deficit after deficit. We could not even get a passport. The dental program has been a disaster as so few dentists have signed up in the Maritimes, for instance.
How can we have any confidence that the government will get this right?
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