OTTAWA - The Liberal budget laid out money for a new dental care program Thursday, but not necessarily a plan.
Now that $5.3 billion is on the table, the government has just shy of nine months to drill into the details and deliver.
Dental care for low- and medium-income families is a major tenet of the confidence and supply agreement the Liberals signed with the NDP to keep the government in power until 2025.
The terms of the deal say the government must start with children under the age of 12 in 2022, expand to under 18-year-olds, seniors and people with disabilities in 2023, and fully implement the program by 2025.
The NDP vision involves a stand-alone, federally administered program that will be expanded over the next three years.
The Canadian Dental Association, however, wants the government to use the money to bolster existing and underfunded provincial dental plans.
