Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the witnesses for being with us in person today.
I'm going to focus most of my questions on the Canadian Dental Association. First of all, thank you for being here today. Thank you for your submission to the committee and for a number of the recommendations you have made. For full disclosure, I want to disclose that my wife has been a restorative hygienist for 25 years and she is amazing at the work she does. I have access to more than 200 oral health practitioners, whom I proudly advocate for. As well, I fully support my colleague MP Don Davies in ensuring that the level of care provided to those who go to the dentist or who seek oral health care be maintained at the same level regardless of their income and that doctors be entitled to full compensation for providing it.
I want to go back to the recommendations you made, specifically your recommendation number one, regarding consultation and collaboration on dental care. I'm going to quote the summary of the recommendation that you made:
CDA recommends that the federal government proceed slowly and carefully, taking the time to develop a long-term solution that is well-informed, targeted, comprehensive, and effective. The federal government should consult broadly with dentists and other oral health care stakeholders, as well as collaborate with other levels of government.
I could say that the news around the program that we just rolled out is welcomed broadly by all stakeholders. However, we see that you are cautioning, or you recommend that the federal government take its time and proceed slowly and carefully.
Can you expand on why you are saying that? On what basis are you saying that we should proceed slowly and carefully?