Thank you very much for the question.
Absolutely, we are in support of the public dental program that's being proposed. It is definitely an issue that we have long monitored. We have greater expertise on pharmacare, but these are equally parts that were left out of the original medicare system. I think this is an excellent opportunity to address some of those gaps through this dental program.
Millions of Canadians are now going to benefit from that. I think that's very good for people who are trying to deal with affordability issues right now—as everybody is—with rising inflation and interest rates. This is going to be a great help. These programs also help relieve pressures on our own health care system, because if people let dental care issues go for too long, they end up in emergency rooms, and that's not where we want to be.
I would add that we are supportive of universal social programs. We do recognize that this will help many people, many Canadians, but not everybody. We are concerned that at the end of this, there may still be some gaps. We have spoken to some members of Parliament who do support this eventually being a stepping stone to a universal program under which everybody is covered, and we're certainly hopeful for that. We realize that getting this program through will help a lot of people and also pave the way for the other commitments that are in the confidence and supply agreement.
As you know, the four health care commitments are spread out over time—the three years of the agreement—and next in line is pharmacare. We should be seeing a draft of a Canada pharmacare act this fall. I hope that we have a good discussion with the committee again when that comes, so certainly it's good all around.