Alberta Premier Smith ‘trying to seek conflict’ rather than focusing on dental patients: Holland

In terms of Alberta and 2026, look, I just care if people get dental care. It's really simple. And you know, I was a little frustrated yesterday because you kind of see the ticker tape of things going on television, You know, Alberta to pull out of the dental care plan. Well, that's not what's happening there. What, what what's being talked about is whether or not the federal government administers it or the provincial government administers it. Now, if you're a family in your in your, in your kid needs oral healthcare, what do you care if it's Alberta or it's the federal government? Like that kid that I was talking about that we wasn't a kid. He's 23 years old, but he's a young man gargling with gasoline isn't thinking boy, geez, I. I hope that it's the, not the government of Nova Scotia administering this. I, you know, I really hope that when I go in that it's going to be no, like, what are we doing here? OK, Alberta saying they want to manage it. If you want to manage it, then we have clear conditions of what it takes at a baseline. It's got to be at least as good as our program #2 we're not going to give you more money than it costs us to administer the program. And #3 we need an assurance, just like I was talking about dental providers earlier, that you're not going to burn providers later on and defund this program and not implement it properly. So, you know, if you want to have that conversation, sure. But it seems the way the Premier Smith put it, it was more about, you know, trying to seek conflict with us to create some kind of political thing than it was about patience. So if it's about patience and it's about care and they think they can do better, great. But here's the news. They weren't covering these people. If it's their jurisdiction, then with all due respect, you weren't doing your job. And so we're stepping in and we're doing the job. Now if you suddenly have decided it is your job. And these people who are uninsured and don't have coverage deserve coverage. Fantastic, great news. Let's sit at the table and talk about how you're going to make it better. I want to have that conversation, but just having a conversation about jurisdiction for jurisdiction state, I mean, that's, that's just nonsense.