Thank you, George, for introducing me, but also for all the incredible work you do as our MP for Skyview, a proud Calgarian, a proud voice for Alberta within our party and within our government. It is really, really a pleasure to be back here with you and making this important announcement.

It’s great to be back in Calgary, great to be back here at SAIT. Thank you so much, Sonja, for your leadership here in the school, but also, David, thank you for welcoming us as well, and thank you to all the teachers and instructors and leaders here that makes SAIT such an extraordinary institute where so much happens. Not just building the future and training students to be able to have the impact that they need to have in the economy of tomorrow, but also directly serving communities in ways that really demonstrate the values and the ethos that is typical to SAIT, but also typical to Albertans: being there for each other, visionary about the future and working hard every step of the way.

That’s why it’s so great to be back in Alberta, and so great to be having conversations with people about what governments can do to make sure people are having the best possible future. Because we all know times are tough right now, there’s challenges around inflation, challenges around affordability, particularly around housing and groceries, concerns about the impacts of climate change and what that’s going to mean for jobs in the future, for careers that young people can have. There’s a lot of uncertainty in a world that’s changing right now.

And that’s why, as a government, we’ve continued to step up. And it hasn’t been automatic, and it hasn’t been easy because there’s a lot of different perspectives on how to best help Canadians to move forward. I will say that our conversations with the Government of Alberta about how to build a strong future have always been very constructive. Our commitment to investing in a better future for all Canadians includes especially Alberta, because here is where so much of the economic growth, of the powering of a net-zero future, is going to happen right across the country, and around the world. So, continuing to be here to invest, whether it’s investing in housing, whether investing in other competition and affordability measures around groceries, and moving forward with a climate plan that puts more money in people’s pockets while we reduce our emissions and prepare for the decarbonization challenges that will continue to have Alberta providing energy in the future: these are all the things that we’ve been focused on and we’re going to continue to focus on and work with Albertans at all levels of government to be able to deliver.

But here, today, I am very pleased to be here to talk about health, because we recognize how important it is to keep Canadians healthy.

And speaking about health care is an essential building block of a successful future for Canadians. We moved forward last year with announcements around $200 billion in investments in health care right across the country, negotiating deals with the provinces to make sure that we’re delivering more primary care, that we’re delivering better support for front-line health care workers, that we’re moving forward on mental health, and that we’re underpinning all of that with better data collection so we can truly see what’s happening, what’s happening well in different parts of the country, where it needs to be improved, and so Canadians can actually have real understanding of the results and the improvements that their tax dollars are investing in in public health care systems right across the country.

We’ve announced recently we’re moving forward on pharmacare, particularly around diabetes and contraception, because we know those are two areas where people are unfortunately having to make choices between paying for groceries, putting food on the table, or their own health, well-being and future, and that’s where stepping up on that way is going to be really important.

But today, we’re here to talk about dental care. This is a way for us to not just go at people’s health and improve health outcomes for Canadians across the country, it’s also a way of dealing with affordability. Last year, almost half a million kids whose families don’t have any sort of dental coverage were able to go to the dentist because we stepped up around dental care. And this year, we’ve already seen 1.3 million seniors sign up for our Canada Dental Care Plan. This is going to make a huge difference right across the country.

So far, Canadians 70 and older are registering for this program, within a month, it’ll be down to 65 and older who can register, and people will start getting services as of later this spring, right across the country. It’s a really exciting time because we know that mouth health is body health, increasingly. And making sure that our seniors and our young people, as a first step, have access to dental care is about creating both healthier outcomes and less pressures on our health care systems, but also better quality of life while taking away some of the affordability challenges for people. It makes a huge difference and it’s something that we’re very, very pleased to be stepping up on and delivering for seniors right now, right across the country.

Investing in dental care is just extremely logical. It helps with the cost of living and affordability, with people who are vulnerable and who could not afford to go to the dentist. It helps in terms of quality of life and the quality of medical care that people receive. We are investing now in a stronger future for everyone.