Federal labour minister tours the Sault, meets seniors, steelworkers (update)

Seamus O'Regan, federal Minister of Labour and Minister of Seniors, accompanied by Sault MP Terry Sheehan, visited the Sault Wednesday to speak with seniors and administrators at the Ontario Finnish Resthome Association (OFRA), tour Algoma Steel’s electric arc furnace project and speak to steelworkers.

“I’m awestruck,” O’Regan told SooToday in an interview after a tour of the electric arc furnace that is currently under construction.

“It’s one of those things that you have to see to believe it.”

The federal government invested over $400 million toward the project, aimed at producing steel in a cleaner way.

“How do we reduce emissions and how do we go from coal and go to electric? Algoma has embraced it. Everything that I’ve heard here about the amount of emissions that will be reduced means it’s clean, green steel that the world is going to want and wants right now,” O’Regan said. 

O’Regan said that he met with steelworkers prior to his tour.

“Their concerns had a lot to do with healthcare. That seems to be top of mind for a lot of people along with the overall cost of living.”

Sheehan said a federal government $3.1-billion health accord deal with Ontario announced in February will go toward the hiring of more doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners.

Ontario has stated it will spend $69 million per year to help internationally educated health professionals, including much needed family doctors, to work in the province faster and will launch a program to quickly assess whether a foreign-trained doctor can practice immediately.

There are approximately 50 foreign-trained doctors currently living in the Sault who wish to practice medicine in this community, one of whom - Dr. Aaron Smith - spoke with SooToday at a labour union rally Friday regarding his long wait to be licensed to work in Ontario.

“We agree the federal government’s job is to get them here, they’re here now and they need to have their credentials reviewed expeditiously. Part of the money in the recent announcement is for the provinces and service providers to get money to those people who want to get those credentials analyzed and reviewed because it can be costly. That will help to expedite that and I want to make sure Sault Ste. Marie gets its fair share of that money, those docs, those nurses and those nurse practitioners,” Sheehan said.

Following a tour of the electric arc furnace project, O’Regan had a second meeting with a group of steelworkers in a trailer.

Some Algoma Steel workers will be phased out once the electric arc furnace is operational.

One worker in attendance told O’Regan that he plans to spend another two years at Algoma Steel before looking for another job, anticipating the time when he will be displaced by the shift to the electric arc furnace.

O’Regan replied that it is important for any company transitioning from one type of technology to another to be transparent with workers who may be affected by that shift.

"It's not the federal government really that should be doing it (assisting displaced workers to find work elsewhere in the steel plant or go for retraining). The federal government should be supporting the people who do it best and more often than not it's unions. We've increased the budget for union training centres across the country because unions themselves know best how to train people for whatever job opportunities may be coming up. All these changes are happening like AI and automation. Unions are keeping an eye on it. We want to make sure that theirs is the advice that we take. We want to make sure that they're the ones who are providing training for future opportunities."  

Earlier Wednesday, O’Regan and Sheehan joined Finnish Resthome residents for recreational activities and a chat in the facility’s dining room.

O’Regan, at the Finnish Resthome, announced that the federal government is now extending invitations to seniors aged 70 and up to apply to the new Canada Dental Care Plan.

“We’ve got a population that’s changing. We have to work together, all levels of government, to make sure that we’re looking after seniors properly,” O’Regan told reporters.

“The good news is that we now have one million seniors that have registered for the Canada Dental Care Plan. You haven’t heard too much about long waiting times. In fact with Service Canada the wait time for seniors who are registering is in seconds. Service Canada has worked this out really well. The Minister of Health is dealing with dentists’ associations right across the country and dental hygienists to make sure that on that end they’re ready and to make sure that the process is seamless. We don’t want seniors and everybody else who benefits from this plan to have to fork out money themselves and then wait for that cash to be reimbursed to them.” 

The government’s plan is to have everyone over the age of 65 who meet eligibility requirements to be able to apply for dental coverage under the CDCP by May 2024. In 2025, qualifying disabled people and those under 18 will be able to be enrolled. Following that, enrollment will open to all other eligible Canadians who meet the income threshold which is less than $90,000 in household take-home pay and don’t have access to private insurance through their employer.

“We’re aiming for those people who do not have any private insurance. That’s where we’re starting. Dental care will evolve and we want to start with people who don’t have any insurance at all. That’s who the program right now is for and that’s the gap we need to fill right now,” O’Regan said.

“If a dentist or a dental hygienist says you need to have it done, it’s covered, so if you're talking about root canals or more invasive dental surgeries, it’s covered. It’s not just the cleaning. It’s everything. If your dentist says you need to have it done, then you need to have it done and it’s covered.”

O’Regan toured seniors' homes in the Greater Toronto Area earlier this week, his next stop being Sudbury.

The full text of a March 6, 2024 federal government news release regarding the Canada Dental Care Plan follows:

Canadians deserve to age with dignity. That comes down to choice, to affordability, and to good health. Because health isn’t just about years in one’s life, it’s about quality of life.

Today, Canada’s Minister for Seniors, Seamus O'Regan Jr., accompanied by Parliamentary Secretary Terry Sheehan, visited Kotitalo Assisted Living and Supportive Housing in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario to meet with seniors and discuss the Government of Canada’s work to help seniors age with dignity, including the new Canada Dental Care Plan.

The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) recently hit a major milestone when it reached one million seniors who have been approved for dental care coverage – including over 400,000 seniors in Ontario. While speaking with seniors at Kotitalo Assisted Living and Supportive Housing, Minister O’Regan announced that the Government of Canada is now extending invitations to seniors, aged 70 and up, to apply to the CDCP.

People who qualify for the CDCP can start seeing a dentist or other oral health provider as early as May 2024, based on their coverage date. An individual’s coverage start date, the date at which they can begin to access services, will vary based on when the application is received and when enrolment is completed. Expenses made prior to the coverage start date will not be covered.

Before receiving any oral health services, CDCP clients should confirm that their provider is participating in the plan and that services they will be receiving will be covered by the CDCP. The CDCP may not cover the full cost of the dental visit and these costs will need to be paid directly to the provider, following an appointment.

No one should have to choose between taking care of their teeth and paying their bills. The CDCP is going to help make dental care more affordable for every Canadian, including the 9 million Canadians who are estimated to currently not have coverage.

For more information, visit Canada's dental coverage website.