Evidence of meeting #139 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was dentists.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
That's excellent. Thank you.
How much more time do I have, Mr. Chair?
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Okay, that's great.
Dr. Allison, do you know how many Canadians don't have access to a primary care provider in Canada?
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
No, I mean a primary health care provider. Let's say a family doctor.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
It's 6.5 million Canadians.
When we look at this idea that has come forward and hear that a multitude of Canadian dentists are refusing to sign up for this program.... There are 26,500 dentists in Canada. The research that I did myself last week indicates that 400 out of 4,000 dentists are signing up for the program in British Columbia.
Does that indicate to you that there's a significant problem here, sir?
3:50 p.m.
As an Individual
It indicates that there are lots of people who are cautious to sign up, yes.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
I'm sorry, sir. That wasn't exactly the question I asked, so maybe I'll try again.
Do you think there's a significant problem with the Canadian dental care program, as dentists are not signing up for it?
3:50 p.m.
As an Individual
If they need to sign up for it—apparently they do not need to sign up for it—then I don't see that it's a problem.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Certainly, there may be changes to come, but the changes have not happened. I don't want to call your integrity into question; that's not what I'm doing, but if you're suggesting that things have changed when they have not yet changed, that's not entirely true, is it, sir?
3:50 p.m.
As an Individual
Well, what I read in a communication that was sent out, from my understanding, by Health Canada yesterday indicated that dentists would no longer need to sign up for the program.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
Sir, could you provide the date on which that is touted to happen?
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Stephen Ellis Conservative Cumberland—Colchester, NS
I mean the date on which dentists will no longer have to sign up for this program.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
We're going to you, MP Thompson. I understand that you'll be sharing your time with MP Baker.
April 18th, 2024 / 3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Joanne Thompson Liberal St. John's East, NL
I will be. Thank you.
I want to clarify for the record that Newfoundland and Labrador, my province, does have a dental program for children, but it's certainly nowhere near the scope that's needed. There's a huge gap there.
Dr. Allison, earlier today, we heard from someone from the Canadian Society for Disability and Oral Health. She recommended that dental care—oral care, health care—for disabled persons become a specialty as a way to break down the barriers the disabled population is encountering.
You referenced integrated care and specialized dental care in your opening remarks. I drew from that in my language that it's the places where people reside, whether it's long-term care for seniors or community health centres in particular. That then lends itself to a primary health care model, where there's an integrated multidisciplinary approach.
Why, in 2024, are we still struggling with the integration of oral health care into primary health care? How do we bring the medical schools and the dental schools forward so that we truly see this as wraparound primary essential care?
3:55 p.m.
As an Individual
As I referred to in my opening remarks, we have this unfortunate anachronism where we have separate doctors for the mouth compared to the rest of the body, and that's reflected in all elements of training and service delivery. Canada is not the only country doing this, as I'm sure you're aware. It's the model pretty much everywhere in the world.
In my view, that's an unfortunate model, and we should be bringing oral health care professionals into the primary health care team on a very large scale. There's no difference between the causes of dental decay and the causes of many other chronic diseases. It's just about how they manifest. I think it's very relevant to have oral health care professionals in primary health care teams, and in a range of settings, as I said.
Getting back to issues around people with disabilities, clearly we need models where people who care for the mouths of those people go to them, because often they have great difficulty getting into private offices. They can also come to a local hospital or a local community health centre setting, and the oral health care professionals can go there. I think on many fronts, for people with complex diseases, young kids and many other people, going to the community health centre and getting oral health care there would be the best model.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
I would like to turn to Mr. Kelly, if I could.
Mr. Kelly, first of all, given that the 2024 budget was just released this week, I must thank you for your advocacy on the Canada carbon rebates for SMEs. I understand that you worked closely with the government on this aspect.
The rebate for SMEs is an accelerated return process to provide direct refunds to small and medium-sized businesses. Can you speak to this and to your views on the government broadening its eligibility rules?