A report by British Columbia's seniors advocate says the province ranks last in Canada in providing key financial support to elders, with 84 per cent of its low-income seniors sometimes running out of money to buy food.
Pierre Poilievre went toe-to-toe with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the first time in his new role as leader of the Conservative Party during a question period Thursday rife with jabs about cryptocurrency, jet fuel, the carbon price and “tax increases.”
The federal government is pledging a suite of measures to address affordability issues, including a temporary GST rebate hike, a one-time top-up to the Canada Housing Benefit and the long-awaited first phase of Canada’s national dental care plan.
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will use the upcoming sitting of Parliament to push the Liberals to move on dental care and housing, as laid out in the deal between the two parties.
Sources close to the government's proposed $5.3-billion dental-care program say the Liberals are planning a temporary solution that involves giving money directly to patients in order to keep their promise to the NDP while they work on a permanent answer.
The clock is ticking for the government to deliver on its ambitious promise to the New Democrats to deliver a dental care program for low- and middle-income uninsured kids by the end of the year, while cost estimates have nearly doubled.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s second pandemic budget turns Canada’s fiscal focus to making life more affordable and giving a long-needed boost to Canadian productivity.
The biggest extension to health care by far in this budget was a national dental care program. This went from obscurity to policy in a matter of months due to its inclusion in the Liberal-NDP agreement.
The federal Liberals are set to unveil their latest spending plan today, April 7, 2022, that aims to balance promises made to voters in last year's election campaign, in the pact with the NDP, and recently to Canada's global defence allies.