Ottawa announced today that seniors over the age of 87 will be the first cohort that can apply to join a new federal dental-benefits plan, which will be phased in slowly over the next year. Health Minister Mark Holland announced the rollout of the program this morning, and it is budgeted to cost 13 billion dollars over the next five years.The program is for people with an annual household income under 90-thousand dollars who don't have access to private insurance. Eligibility will be slowly expanded over the course of 2024 to include all qualifying seniors, children under the age of 18 and peo

House Speaker Greg Fergus apologized to a committee of MPs this morning for a video he made that was shown at a recent Ontario Liberal Party convention. Fergus was called to speak to the committee on procedure and House affairs, which is examining whether the non-partisan Speaker should be punished for appearing in the video in his ceremonial robes. The committee has scheduled five hours of hearings on this today, with witnesses that also include House clerks and John Fraser, the Ontario member of the provincial parliament who was the subject of Fergus's video. Fergus says a member of Frase

The federal government says it has recovered $40 million from the now-defunct Quebec-based vaccine developer Medicago, and the intellectual property will remain in Canada under a new firm. The government provided Medicago a $173-million advance in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic to develop and produce a plant-based vaccine in Quebec City. The company's Japanese parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical Group, shut down Medicago's operations in February as global demand for vaccinations plummeted. Though Medicago's vaccine was approved for use in Canada, it was not approved by the World Healt

Statistics Canada says about one in nine Canadian adults have had long-term symptoms from COVID-19 infection.The report released today says that amounts to 3.5 million Canadians. Symptoms are defined as long-term if they persist for three months or longer after a COVID-19 infection and they can't be explained by anything else. Almost 80 per cent of people with long-term symptoms have them for six months or more. StatCan says more than half of those who ever had long-term symptoms still had them as of June 2023. Two-thirds of Canadian adults who have tried to get health-care services for their

More than 200 crashes have occurred from last night to this morning due to Thursday night's snow fall in Calgary. Due to the storm, the drivers had to face a lot of trouble. According to the police, people have been injured in 13 out of 200 crashes.They said that 6 crashes took place this morning, out of which injuries were reported during one of the accidents. Due to slippery roads, control over vehicles is reduced. According to city officials, they have ordered more crews and 60 trucks to remove snow from the roads. Snow removal is being done with the help of roller coaster.People are warned

The Public Health Agency of Canada says the death toll has risen to five in a salmonella outbreak linked to Malichita and Rudy brand cantaloupes. It says 129 people have been confirmed with salmonella linked to the outbreak, almost double the number at the last update on December 1st, when a single death had been recorded. There are also 17 cases in Ontario, 15 in British Columbia, and two each in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. The agency issued food recall warnings three times in November for Malichita cantaloupes sold between October 11th and November 14

Immigration Minister Marc Miller says Ottawa will require foreigners applying to study in Canada to have double the amount of funds currently required. Miller says the change is among those meant to ensure international students aren't left vulnerable to sketchy employers and unable to afford life in Canada. He is also warning provinces that the Liberals might limit visas if colleges and universities don't adequately support students, but he tells reporters that governments need to have more conversations before such changes. The Liberals are also ramping down a policy that lengthened the

Unions representing 420,000 Quebec public sector workers are beginning a weeklong strike today. The workers, including teachers, education support staff and lab technicians, are members of a group of unions that calls itself the "common front." The temporary strike comes after the common front rejected the government's most recent contract offer, which includes a salary increase of 12.7 per cent over five years. It is the group's third temporary strike since early November, and the unions say it will be the last before they launch an unlimited strike. Around 66,000 teachers who are members of

The Alberta legislature has wrapped up its fall sitting, passing nine bills this week that included legislation yesterday clearing the path for a referendum on the province quitting the Canada Pension Plan. To pass the bill, the U-C-P government's House Leader Joseph Schow put time limits on debate. He says he had no choice as the Opposition NDP signalled it would try to hold up the bill by endlessly debating it. New Democrats say the bill mandating a referendum be held before Alberta would leave the CPP contains a loophole that gives the government the option to ignore the results.