P.E.I. premier wants Ottawa to partner with province on dental, school food programs

P.E.I. Premier Dennis King wants the federal government to partner with the province on recently announced national programs, to avoid what he called inefficient overlaps with similar initiatives in this province. 

On Friday, the premier said there are already similar provincial programs, such as P.E.I.'s universal school food program. He also singled out Ottawa's national dental program for seniors for criticism.

During question period in the legislature on Friday, the premier's fellow Progressive Conservative MLA Brad Trivers asked if new federal initiatives risk duplicating the province's own programs.

King replied that he sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau requesting a federal-provincial partnership on some of the measures, specifically P.E.I.'s pay-what-you-can School Food Program, which launched in 2020.

"I am writing to you today to propose that your government immediately engage in conversations with our officials," King wrote to Trudeau, "to explore the opportunity to expand the program … and explore a partnership to expand our offering to include a universal school breakfast program.

"The demand for the program has increased since inception, highlighting the need for children to access a healthy school lunch." 

The Trudeau government's $1-billion national school food program, announced in advance of next week's federal budget, is mandated to deliver meals to 400,000 children a year.

The Coalition for Healthy School Food says about two million Canadian children are already participating in such initiatives at school. The additional 400,000 children to benefit attend the roughly 1,000 schools on wait lists for a food program. 

Where jurisdictions already have their own such initiatives, the coalition hopes Ottawa will transfer them funds, so "it's not a new bureaucracy, it just flows directly."

Still, the Trudeau government's April 1 announcement was scant on details. Child nutrition advocates say they are looking to next Tuesday's federal budget to contain more details about the program's expansion.

P.E.I.'s premier also raised criticisms Friday about the rollout of another national program, dental care for seniors, which King called "an unmitigated disaster." 

He said he spoke with federal Health Minister Mark Holland, asking the feds to work with the province's existing dental program to avoid inefficiencies.

"The dentists have said quite vocally that the program is far too cumbersome to navigate," King said on Friday. "Individuals are showing up to get access to dental care — only to find out that the program isn't set up yet, and they're not going to be covered for the cost."

The premier said the "best way" to improve the federal initiative "would be to piggyback on the current program that we have, which dentists seem to like."