Mr. Michel Breau, Manager of Government and Community Relations at the Canadian Dental Association (CDA), provides a brief overview of the results of the 44th Federal election which took place on Monday, September 20, 2021, and explains what the result means for Canadian dentists.
Here are some of the key takeaways:
RETURN TO STATUS QUO
- The result of Election 2021 has been a return to the status quo, with seat counts for each party being almost identical to what they were two years ago.
- Minor trends of note:
- Liberals lost some seats in Atlantic Canada while gaining in Alberta and British Columbia.
- The traditional east-west race between the two main parties is slowly morphing into more of an urban-rural contest.
- The NDP failed to get the breakthrough.
- The Green Party had its weakest result in almost 20 years.
- Given that the minority government situation has repeated, we are likely to see more collegiality and an effort to make this parliament last longer than the typical two-year cycle. There is little appetite among political parties or Canadian voters to return to the polls anytime soon. That said, we are likely to see a cabinet shuffle and some significant movement of staff around Parliament Hill.
COVID-19 VACCINATIONS
- Liberal Party and NDP numbers add up to a clear majority of parliament members in favour of a strong approach to vaccination and mandatory vaccination within spheres of federal responsibility.
- The Liberal Party is committed to a $1bn contribution towards provinces that need to develop vaccine credentials and implement them.
- The Liberal Party has promised to put in place legislation to protect employers that impose vaccine mandates on their employees.
SUPPORTING DENTAL OFFICES AS SMALL BUSINESSES
- The CDA will continue to monitor and encourage the Government to move quickly with its proposal to allow the immediate expensing of capital costs to help offset investments many dental offices have made to adapt to pandemic health protocols.
- A commitment to ventilation improvement tax credit for small businesses would also be of benefit to many dental offices. The CDA will be encouraging the Government to provide clarity and move quickly on this.
ACCESS TO CARE
- Due to CDA’s ongoing engagement with the various political parties we were able to avoid dental care becoming a key campaign issue. We do not expect to see any drastic changes or new proposals in the coming years and CDA will continue to advocate for consideration of dedicated funding from the Federal Government targeted to existing provincial programs that are significantly underfunded.
- PHARMACARE – The Liberals quietly signed their first Pharmacare deal with P.E.I. just before the election. Expect them to quickly sign deals with other willing provinces.
- MENTAL HEALTH – The Liberals have committed to putting in place a mental health transfer that is separate from the Canada Health Transfer.
We hope you find the conversation useful. We welcome your thoughts, questions and/or suggestions about this post and other topics. Leave a comment in the box below or send us your feedback by email.
Until next time!
CDA Oasis Team
