Manitoba advocates beaming about national dental plan news

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This article was published 28/03/2023 (932 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Many eligible Manitobans will be smiling about the federal government’s announcement of a national dental care plan in this year’s budget.

Local health advocates were also hailing other budget announcements made Tuesday, including: moves toward a national pharmacare plan; spending to encourage more doctors and nurses to practise in rural and remote communities; implementing a 988 suicide prevention line; and supporting a renewed strategy to combat the opioid crisis.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said $13 billion will be spent on the dental plan over the next five years, and $4.4 billion ongoing annually. It will result in up to nine million uninsured Canadians receiving dental coverage by 2025.

Manitoba Dental Association president Scott Leckie called the new national plan “a historic investment in the care of people who need it most.”

“We’re quite excited the federal government is continuing to improve the oral health of Canadians… good oral health leads to better overall health. We’re really happy about this,” Leckie said.

Thomas Linner, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition, echoed that enthusiasm.

The new dental program “is very exciting,” Linner said. “It is not universal yet, but we have to give credit where it is due. This will give coverage for lots of folks who haven’t got coverage now. It will make a big difference for people.

“Good health does not stop at your mouth.”

NDP MP Daniel Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona), the party’s finance critic, said the new dental plan exists only because of the Parliament voting support deal struck by the NDP with the minority Liberal government.

“I think it is awesome,” Blaikie said. “It was not on the Liberal radar until after the last election. We decided to use our 25 seats to do something to help Canadians, and which we had run on.”

Blaikie said the announced plan is not the full universal dental system the NDP still wants, but “we will have the infrastructure for (it).”

On other budget issues, Linner said the coalition gives positive marks for the federal government saying it will begin moving towards creating a federal pharmacare system later this year with enabling legislation.

“It’s the creation of a new social program in Canada, the largest expansion of the social safety net for a generation,” he said. “It’s a big deal.”

Meantime, even though the federal government has signed deals with the provinces and territories for $196 billion over 10 years in health-care funding, Linner said the coalition will be watching to make sure it is spent in the right places.

“We will push for those dollars to go to front-line care and not private operators,” he said.

Darlene Jackson, president of the Manitoba Nurses Union, said the group was hoping for the creation of a new nurse retention fund. However, it was pleased to see dollars tabbed to help retain nurses and doctors in rural areas.

“Manitoba’s rural communities have truly suffered over the past several years, with frequent closures to rural health facilities, resulting in cuts to services and, ultimately, the inability to provide regional patient care,” Jackson said.

“We certainly welcome any help we can get… All of these investments can make an impact, but only if we work to improve systems that are driving health-care professionals out of their respective fields, both in urban and rural centres.”

Among the non-health-related items which could benefit Manitoba included the headquarters of the new Canada Water Agency to be based in Winnipeg.

“Access to clean drinking water is of great importance to Winnipeg and Manitoba,” Blaikie said. “I think Winnipeg is an excellent choice to have at its headquarters.”

Manitoba Finance Minister Cliff Cullen said his Tory government also welcomes the new agency, as “something our government has been advocating for some time.”

However, “many Manitobans are facing challenging affordability pressures and they needed the kind of broad-based and permanent tax relief measures we delivered in our recent budget. We again ask that the federal government take measures to pause the increase to the carbon tax.”

At Winnipeg city hall, Coun. Jeff Browaty, chairman of the finance committee, said many of the items municipalities were calling for were not in the federal budget, including: permanent public transit funding; permanently doubling the Canada Community Building Fund (formerly known as the gas tax); and the creation of a new disaster mitigation and adaptation fund.

“Municipalities own the majority of Canada’s infrastructure but we have the least resources, in terms of taxing revenues,” Browaty said.

With thousands of immigrants coming to Manitoba, further federal government support for new and affordable housing programs is also needed, the councillor said.

“We still have a housing crunch across the country,” Browaty said. “We were looking for perhaps more support… and there’s no news on any of that.

“It’s something I think we need from coast to coast to coast, and that’s something that was not addressed in today’s budget.”

— with files from Joyanne Pursaga and Danielle Da Silva

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca