 Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | Your questions answered about Canada's dental-care plan | | |  | The Canadian Dental Care Plan is a $13-billion insurance program, launched by the federal government, that's expected to provide basic dental care to about nine million Canadians. (Shane Hennessey/CBC) | | | The federal government unveiled details about its highly anticipated Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) yesterday. CBC News has been fielding questions about the $13-billion insurance program since the announcement. Here are some of those questions answered:
Who pays for what under the CDCP?
Services covered under the Canadian Dental Care Plan include cleaning, X-rays, fillings, dentures, root canals and extractions. Teeth whitening, implants and mouth guards will not be covered under the plan.
Applicants with household incomes below $70,000 will not have to pay participating dentists, hygienists or denturists — Ottawa will pick up the tab for covered services. Families with incomes between $70,000 and $79,999 will see 60 per cent of service fees covered by the government. For those in the $80,000 to $89,999 income bracket, coverage drops to 40 per cent.
Who is eligible?
To qualify for the CDCP, applicants must have an annual adjusted family net income under $90,000 and cannot have access to dental insurance. Applicants must be a Canadian resident for tax purposes, and a tax return from the previous year must have been filed prior to applying for the CDCP.
Applicants who have access to dental benefits through a program offered by a province, territory or the federal government can still apply for the CDCP if they meet all eligibility criteria, they said.
Can I use my current dentist, denturist or dental hygienist?
If enrolled, oral health providers will directly submit claims to Sun Life for reimbursement; and if there's a co-pay, those using CDCP will pay the cost out of pocket to the provider.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh — who said his party "forced" Ottawa to enact the program as part of the agreement that could keep the Liberals in power until 2025 — said they worked hard to ensure the CDCP would be supported by all oral health professionals and opened up applications to all providers. "So people should be able to use this to go to their local dentist, the one they've been going to before," he said.
But federal Health Minister Mark Holland acknowledged the government "still has work to do" to guarantee the country's dentists will provide services to publicly insured clients. "The core success of this plan is making sure oral health professionals are signing up," he said. "I'm extraordinarily optimistic there is going to be very strong uptake."
If I'm eligible, when can I apply?
Applications for the CDCP will be open this month, initially over the phone. Only eligible seniors aged 87 and up can apply at first. Applications for other age groups will be phased in with a staggered approach that will eventually include online. | | | | | Israel-Hamas war in its 3rd month | | |  | (Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images) | | | | An Israel Defence Forces artillery unit, using a self-propelled artillery howitzer, fires towards Gaza near the border on Monday in southern Israel. It has been more than two months since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas that killed more than 1,200 people and saw 240 kidnapped, of which 138 are still being held hostage, according to Israeli tallies. The attack prompted Israel's air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip that has killed 18,205 people and wounded nearly 50,000, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health authorities. Read the latest from the war here. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | Seamus Flynn said he had four teeth left, because the rest of them had been knocked out. The 35-year-old inmate called CBC News on Nov. 21. He was insistent that he and other inmates on unit 3B at Her Majesty's Penitentiary (HMP) in St. John's were beaten unnecessarily by prison guards on Oct. 11. His story was backed up by another inmate who was on the same range, who said Flynn got the worst of it. "If I was smaller, they would have killed me," said Flynn, speaking from a payphone. "It was far beyond any street fight." According to multiple sources, including family members, Flynn died on the first weekend in December. The Department of Justice and Public Safety has confirmed that a man died on Dec. 2 after being taken to the hospital from HMP. Officials have not released a cause of death. There is no indication that injuries Flynn allegedly sustained two months ago played any role. Fellow inmates are calling for a full investigation into the events of Oct. 11, and the care Flynn received in the ensuing weeks before he died. The Department of Justice and Public Safety said there was one minor injury and that, "We commend the work of the well-trained correctional officers at HMP for diffusing the situation." Read more, including the second inmate's story, here.
Ads for several prominent Canadian companies and organizations have been appearing in the feeds of extremist accounts on X, prompting some of the companies to pause advertising on the social media platform. They join a growing number of brands that are backing away from X, formerly known as Twitter, amid the unchecked rise in hateful content and owner Elon Musk's seeming endorsement of antisemitic and other far-right conspiracy theories. A review by CBC News of about two dozen accounts linked to white nationalists, white supremacists, misogynists and other extremists found ads by major brands. Bell Media and Angus Reid halted ads because of the placement. Ad revenues have dropped more than 50 per cent year-over-year in every month since Musk bought Twitter for an estimated $44 billion US. Read more about the CBC News investigation here.
More than six per cent of Quebec's population is on strike. Public sector workers have been striking for weeks now to pressure the Quebec government into negotiating new collective agreements. The major union federations, the Fédération autonome de l'enseignement (FAE), Fédération interprofessionnelle de la santé du Québec (FIQ), and the common front, a coalition of unions representing public sector workers in health care and education, among other areas, are all on strike. In all, 560,000 people are off the job. The strikes are the largest labour movement in years and they are affecting the delivery of public services. Children are out of public school because teachers are striking. Many medical appointments are cancelled due to striking hospital staff. How far have things come and where is this going? Learn more about the strikes here.
One of the most consequential questions of the 2024 U.S. presidential election has now been turned over to the Supreme Court. The fundamental issue being litigated involves whether former U.S. president Donald Trump will be brought to trial before Americans vote in the general election next November. This was the essence of a historic court filing Monday, the latest step in an escalating cat-and-mouse contest between Trump and prosecutors. Special counsel Jack Smith urged the high court to intervene pre-emptively and decide on the merits of a Trump complaint that could delay a key case. Without immediate action, Smith said, the dispute could drag into the next Supreme Court term, and remain unresolved before the election. It involves the first Trump case scheduled for trial next year, a four-count indictment involving Trump's behaviour before the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol. "The [prosecution] recognizes that this is an extraordinary request. This is an extraordinary case," Smith's team wrote in its filing. Read Washington-based correspondent Alex Panetta's analysis here.
In times of bitter conflict, what does it take to make peace? An experienced mediator and two former heads of state who helped to end some of the world’s most intractable conflicts discussed with CBC's Nahlah Ayed how to get warring sides beyond the dehumanization and rage. "Peace begins generally with an idea. Either the idea comes from the realm of reason, or it comes from the realm of bloody experience," said David Harland, director of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue. Read more, including how lengthy conflicts in Colombia and Northern Ireland can inform the Israel-Hamas war, here.
Now here's some good news to start your Tuesday: It's been a good week for Canadian athletes so far. Seventeen-year-old Macklin Celebrini is turning heads at Canada's world junior camp, as players get introduced to a potential No. 1 pick in June's NHL draft. 'He's a pro already,' one player said. Also on the ice, Toronto Maple Leafs forward John Tavares became the 98th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 points with an assist that tied the game late against his former team, the New York Islanders. Read about Tavares's milestone here. Finally, basketball star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was voted Canada's top athlete of the year on Monday. The 25-year-old from Hamilton is the Northern Star Award recipient, formerly the Lou Marsh Trophy, after receiving his first all-NBA nod and leading the Canadian men's team to a bronze-medal upset of the United States at the Basketball World Cup. Gilgeous-Alexander is the second basketball player to win the award after Steve Nash grabbed honours in 2005. Read about Gilgeous-Alexander's other accomplishments here. | | | FIRST PERSON | My family has been in Canada for 3 years, but it wasn't truly home until we bought our house | Anusuya Datta says she always subscribed to the adage, “Home is where the heart is.” After three years in Saskatoon, her family has finally found a place to call home. Read her first-person piece here. | | | | | | |  | Can Ukraine win without U.S. money? | | A $60-billion military aid package for Ukraine has stalled in Washington as trench warfare with Russia grinds on. Would the end of U.S. funding doom Ukraine’s hopes? Listen to today's episode | | | Today in history: Dec. 12 | | | 1901: Guglielmo Marconi receives the first trans-Atlantic wireless signal at St. John's. The inventor of wireless telegraphy flew a box kite trailing 121 metres of copper wire to a telephone to pick up faint clicking sounds transmitted from 3,200 kilometres across the ocean at the Podhu wireless station in Cornwall, England. Today, the hill on which he stood is called Signal Hill.
1925: The first motel — the Motel Inn — opens in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
1985: A U.S. DC-8 crashes and explodes on a hillside shortly after taking off from Gander, N.L. The disaster claimed the lives of 250 U.S. military personnel and eight crew members, the worst air crash on Canadian soil.
2000: The U.S. Supreme Court votes 5-4 to overturn a court-ordered recount of Florida's ballots in the previous month's presidential election. The decision causes Vice-President Al Gore to concede the following day to Texas Gov. George W. Bush. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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