Dear Friends,
Join me at my next Anthony’s Assembly Town Hall Meeting on Thursday May 2 at 7pm at the ACC!
This will be a short update because I want to focus on asking everyone to join me at my next Anthony’s Assembly Town Hall meeting which is focused on the rise in antisemitism in Canada and the world and what I am working on to combat it.
The meeting will take place on Thursday, May 2nd at 7pm at the Cote Saint Luc Aquatic and Community Centre. This is the subject which preoccupies most of my Jewish constituents on a daily basis, but I am very much hoping those who are not Jewish will turn out to understand the magnitude of the problem and learn how they can be allies. As always, I will start the meeting with my remarks and then take questions and constituents can, as always, ask me questions on other topics if they wish.
So that we know numbers, I ask that you register with my office at Anthony.Housefather@parl.gc.ca, and I hope to see you there!
This week is a constituency week and in addition to attending Passover Seders (and I want to thank the Brownstein/Goodwin/Perlin/Friedman family for inviting us to the first seder and the Goodman/Melmed family for inviting us to the second), I had the opportunity to join Small Business Minister Rechie Valdez in meeting with the leadership of a number of Filipino organizations on Monday and also had the opportunity of connecting with Ayanna Alleyne, Chair of the Board of Directors at the Côte Des Neiges Black Community Association on Wednesday.
I also attended a press conference at the Montreal City Hall last Friday with Housing Minister Sean Fraser and my colleague MP Anna Gainey where we announced federal, provincial, and municipal contributions to a feasibility study of the construction of 10,000 housing units on the Namur Hippodrome site, a number of which will be below market units. This is a welcome announcement, but I also have made very clear that a Cavendish extension from the north end to the south end in addition to the Jean Talon link has to be a prerequisite to development and I have made my views clear to Sean. I will be working with fellow MPs, MNAs and local Mayors and Councillors to make sure this is also made clear to the Montreal administration.
What has the Prime Minister said about the demonstration in Ottawa this weekend?
Like many of you I was deeply disturbed by the antisemitism shown at the demonstration in Ottawa on Saturday. At the time the Prime Minister put out the following statement:
On Wednesday he was asked a question about the demonstrations on Saturday and stated:
“we have laws against hate speech, against incitement to violence, and we expect police to do their jobs and make sure those laws are enforced… nobody should feel unsafe in their communities, in their community schools, in their places of worship.”
Please see the video at the following link:
Anthony Housefather (@anthony.housefather) • Instagram photos and videos
What is the latest news about the Canada Dental Care Plan (CDCP)?
- Choice for providers and their clients
As of July 8, 2024, all oral health providers will be able to direct bill Sun Life for services provided on a claim-by-claim basis without having to sign up for CDCP. This will make it easier for providers to treat patients and submit CDCP claims to Sun Life for direct reimbursement whether or not they choose to formally participate.
This means that CDCP clients will be able to see any oral health professional they choose for their care, as long as the provider agrees to direct bill Sun Life for services provided under the plan.
- Emergency Care and pre-authorization:
The Government of Canada designed the CDCP’s basket of services with the CDCP eligible population in mind, including their need to access emergency care. The vast majority of services will be available to patients with absolutely no paperwork or preauthorization required. There are no limitations on emergency examinations under the plan and almost all services that could be done on an emergency basis already do not need preauthorization.
- 2024 CDCP Dental Benefit Grids:
To make sure that oral health providers have the details they need, the 2024 CDCP Dental Benefit Grids were published last week, which outlines the fees that the CDCP will pay to oral health providers for all procedures covered under the plan. The CDCP fee structure is based on similar federal programs and will be reassessed annually. Health Canada will work with oral health provider associations to inform our work related to fees for 2025 and beyond.
To learn more about this program, or to check if you are eligible, please click here: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/dental/dental-care-plan.html
Until next week,
Anthony
—