NDP’s Kate White champions Yukon Dental Program after national program announced

December 12, 2023

WHITEHORSE, YT — The Yukon NDP is highlighting the success of its hard-won dental program following the announcement of a national dental program.

The national program, announced Tuesday, Dec. 12, comes out of the federal New Democrats’ Confidence and Supply Agreement (CASA) with the federal Liberals roughly a year after the Yukon NDP won Liberal support for a better, more robust dental plan here in the Yukon.

The Yukon Dental Plan is now an unqualified success despite the Yukon Liberals’ repeated insistence that it couldn’t be done.

“The Liberals told me it wasn’t possible right until they needed my support to form government. Too many Yukoners couldn’t afford basic dental care, so I made the Liberals commit to the dental plan before I signed CASA,” Kate White, Yukon NDP leader and MLA for Takhini – Kopper King said Tuesday, Dec. 12.

The territorial dental plan provides $1,300 in annual dental benefits to uninsured Yukoners who make less than $60,000 per year, plus expanded coverage for Yukon families with two or more children and with combined yearly incomes of less than $90,000.

“We were able to secure better coverage for more Yukoners by tying program benefits to take-home pay. I love that Canada’s NDP forced Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to back a national program. Liberals in Ottawa and the Yukon held out as long as they could before they had to cave. Now, we must use our leverage to keep both programs in place,” White added.

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