Your World Tonight - Dental plan but no dentist visit, synagogue attack, is it time to stop the time change, and more

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

More than five million Canadians are signed up to the federal dental plan, but nearly half of them have yet to see a dentist. The national plan subsidizes the cost of the visit. But there’s a catch — dentists are allowed to charge more.And: On the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, an attack kills two people at a synagogue in northern England. People were gathered for Yom Kippur services when a man drove a car into a crowd, then began stabbing people.Also: Spring forward, fall back, stay still. Twice a year, more and more people are asking, why do we keep doing this to ourselves? One MP says it’s time to pick a time — and establish a set clock that would hold year round.Plus: The Liberal government unveils agency to speed up military procurement, autoworkers in Oshawa brace for more layoffs, the societal costs of wildfires, and more.

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That's vote.com. Thanks for listening. This is a CBC podcast. People have their little card in their hands and they will reach out to their dentist when they need. So I feel to have people enrolled in the program. is key. Canada's dental plan is a little more than a year old, and millions of Canadians have signed up, but only about half have actually seen a dentist. And there are questions about how much dental clinics should be allowed to charge, and also questions about whether

Ottawa has the teeth to make it work. Welcome to your world tonight. I'm Angie Seth. It's Thursday, October 2nd, just before 6 p.m. Eastern, also on the podcast. And today is Yonkipor. It's very holy festival. And I'm Jewish and absolutely terrified. That fear sparked by what police are calling a terror attack at a synagogue in Manchester, England. A man drove into people standing outside and then got out of the car and began slashing with a knife. It turned a day meant for fasting and reflection into one of sorrow and anxiety. Millions of Canadians are now eligible and opting in to the federal dental plan. Canada's health minister says it's good news.

But there are gaps in that story. Some clinics are charging more than the plan pays, with patients left holding the bill for cleanings, fillings, and dentures. As Marina von Stackleberg reports, that's just one of the concerns keeping many people out of the chair. The influx is quite a lot. Autoa dentists, Minfam, is so busy treating patients. Through the Canadian dental care plan, he's opened his clinic on Sundays.

I try my best so that they won't have too much waiting. Health Canada says 5.2 million people are now covered. But nearly half of those patients haven't yet been to the dentist. There are backlogs in some parts of the country, especially after the program massively expanded this spring to cover 18 to 64-year-olds. Many of my patients never seen a dentist before. There's so much work to be done. There's extraction.

another reason why Dr. Fam might be so busy, he's charging only what the federal government will reimburse. That means some patients are walking out of his office without paying a cent. So if people show up with a card with 100% coverage, they get freedom to care. But that's not what most dentists are doing. Unlike other public programs, the Canadian dental care plan lets clinics balance bill. That means they can charge more than what Ottawa will cover. The patient is on the hook to pay the difference, and that dollar amount can vary greatly. But Dr. Bruce Ward, with the Canadian Dental Association, says balance billing is one of the reasons why nearly all dental clinics are now accepting patients through the program.

To restrict the amount that dentists can charge for any given procedure would make things more difficult for the dental offices and therefore more roadblocks in the way of everybody participating. Ward says there's another common reason why some people aren't rushing into the dental chair. A lot of people really don't like going and they'll avoid it at all costs. So it's not unusual that people have coverage but don't use it. Hamilton senior Shelley Rose Charvei wanted to use the program. I was approved but then it turned out to be much more expensive to use it than to not use it. Her dentist wanted to charge her hundreds of dollars in extra tests to make sure her claim would get approved. It ended up being cheaper for her to just pay out of pocket.

Didn't bother reapplying because I thought there's no point. Victoria's senior Louise Hewnick says her dentist has started charging patients in the program an annual $50 administrative fee. I don't think that's in the spirit of what this was supposed to be about. Health Minister Marjorie Michel says the insurance plan will continue to be improved as more people use it. They will reach out to their dentist when they need. So I feel to have people enrolled in the program is key for them to have the opportunity to go. So far, the federal government has paid for more than $3 billion worth of dental work. On average, that's $800 per patient a year.

Marina von Stackleberg, CBC News, Ottawa. It's a stark contrast to the urgency and pace of the battlefield, the often slow and inefficient process of acquiring and delivering the equipment Canadian soldiers need. Now a new federal agency will try to speed things up by changing how the military procures equipment and where it comes from. Tom Perry has more. Many governments have talked about it and over the last couple months I've realized why I never got done because it was very, very difficult to do. It can routinely take the federal government years and sometimes decades to provide the military with new aircraft, ships, vehicles and other

vital equipment. But Stephen Fure, Secretary of State for Defense Procurement, says that's about to change. Fure today announced a new government body to oversee and accelerate defense spending a new defense investment agency. The goal or aim of this agency is to equip the Canadian Armed Forces with the tools and equipment they need at the speed of relevance. This new agency will be headed by a CEO, Doug Guzman, a former deputy chair of the Royal Bank of Canada. His job will be to streamline procurement by cutting red tape and eliminating duplication in an approvals process that right now requires multiple departments to sign off on a project before it gets a green light. Fure says the agency's other job will be to wean Canada's military off of U.S. suppliers

as much as possible, with more emphasis on purchasing from European and other allies and ideally buying Canadian. But conservative defense critic James Bazan doesn't see anything in the liberal plan that will make anything better. Creating another level of bureaucracy and red tape will do nothing to actually improve the procurement that our troops need desperately to get the kit that they required to do the job that can and needs them to do. Wendy Gilmore is more hopeful. She's former Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment at NATO.

One of the things that I think is really positive about this announcement is that there's a specific acknowledgement of the need to speed things up. And so that will mean a consolidation of certain capabilities that exist at the moment in Canada in a number of different departments. And we'll just have to see how it all plays out when it's underway. How this plays out will be a crucial test. With Canada weighing its purchase of American F-35 fighter jets, shopping around for new submarines, all while pledging to dramatically boost defense spending across the board.

The question is, can this government succeed where others have failed, and finally speed things up. Tom Perry, CBC News, Ottawa. A conservative leader also wants the government to speed things up on bail reform. Pierre Paulyev is calling on the liberals to fast-track his party's proposed legislation dubbed the Jail Not Bail Act. We don't need the liberals to do anything. We just need them to get out of the way. Mark Carney promised he would reverse liberal bail laws, and here we are a half a year later, and those laws are still in place,

and they haven't even introduced a bill. The private members bill would prevent anyone convicted of a major offense in the last 10 years from getting bail. It will be debated later this month. The Carney government, meantime, is expected to introduce its own bail reform legislation this fall. Coming right up, the latest on today's terror attack on a synagogue in the UK on the holiest day in Judaism. Also, years of wildfires have destroyed homes, forests, prairie here and around the world, but all those disasters could also provide clues for how to better prepare. And tariffs on Canada's auto sector are hitting numerous communities hard. We'll have

an inside look at one, Oshua, Ontario. Later, we'll have this story. I'm Nicole Williams in Ottawa. In exactly one month, most Canadians will be turning back their clocks to daylight standard time. Some love it, many hate it, and more Canadians are asking, why do we keep doing The time has come to address time change. A member of parliament is now looking at what it might take to ditch the switch. That's later on Your World Tonight. The attack was deadly. The timing and location apparently deliberate.

A man went on a rampage outside an Orthodox synagogue in Manchester, England today, leaving two people dead and four others wounded. a terrifying event that came on the most important day on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur, amid a disturbing increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the United Kingdom. Breyer Stewart has the details. Police sealed off roads outside of the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester. After the holy day of Yom Kippur was violently shattered in an attack that the police have called terrorism.

Two members. of our Jewish community have sadly died. Greater Manchester Police Chief, Constable Stephen Watson. Armed officers from Greater Manchester Police intercepted the offender and he was fatally shot. That moment and the ones just before it were caught on camera by passerbyes. A car rammed pedestrians on the sidewalk outside of the synagogue and a man got out brandishing a knife and began to stab people. Police feared that the suspect was wearing a bomb.

Seconds later, they shot and killed him as it appeared he was getting up. Police later said the device the man was wearing wasn't viable. I'm Jewish and absolutely terrified. Vicky, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, lives near the synagogue. And not far away from a residential street where police arrested three people on suspicious of preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism. The police also announced that officers would be deployed to synagogues and Jewish schools across the UK, where security is already heightened. Since the Hamas-led attack on Israel on

October 7, 2023 and Israel's ensuing war in Gaza, there's been a disturbing rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the UK. More than 1,500 were reported in the first half of this year. There was a feeling of inevitability about it. Alex Hearn says he was part of a volunteer patrol at his London Synagogue Wednesday. He's co-director of the organisation, Labour Against Antisemitism. An example needs to be set because we can have all the security guards in the world and that can't protect us from this climate of hate that's growing. The UK's Prime Minister Kirstarmer called an emergency cabinet committee meeting

and tried to reassure the Jewish community. And so I promise you that I will. will do everything in my power to guarantee you the security that you deserve. Meanwhile, police are continuing their investigation. They've identified the suspect as a British citizen of Syrian descent and are still looking into his motive. Breyer Stewart, CBC News, London. With a potential Gaza ceasefire deal on the line, the White House says the U.S. President needs to hear from Hamas soon. Spokesperson, Caroline Levitt, says Donald Trump gave the militant group a four-day deadline to accept his plan.

And it's a red line that the president of the United States is going to have to draw, and I'm confident that he will. This is an acceptable plan, and we hope and we expect Hamas should accept this plan so we can move forward with a more peaceful and prosperous Middle East. Hamas is reportedly still reviewing the plan. It calls for the group to disarm and return the remaining hostages held for nearly two years. In return, Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and end the fighting in Gaza.

Israel's prime minister has already said he supports the deal. Now, since the October 7th attacks, Israel has been tightening its grip on the West Bank, expanding settlements, threatening annexation, and altering the lives of thousands of Palestinians. Paul Hunter visited the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, where there is fear about what could happen next. On a hillside along the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank, Ibrahim Salame climbs his way up a pile of cinder block rubble, which until two weeks ago was his

house. He lived here until the day Israeli forces pulled up with heavy equipment and flattened it, saying he had no permit. My life is over, he told us. I'm unable to feed my children. I was unable to protect my home. There's nothing I can do. Salame, a farm worker, is far from alone in his worries. The broad fear in this region, as the world's attention is focused on the Gaza Strip, is that Israel is slowly, surely moving toward taking swaths of the occupied West Bank, toward annexing the fertile lands in the Jordan Valley farmed by Palestinians for so long, a notion Israeli politicians have talked about for decades. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged as much back in 2019, with a campaign promised to take the Jordan Valley that was met with international

condemnation. And Netanyahu didn't follow through. In recent days, the condemnation re-ignited when Netanyahu seemed to suggest he's still intent on it. Meanwhile, Israeli forces regularly demolish Palestinian structures here. Often, it says, to enforce building regulations. Asim Haj Mahmah Mohammad, mayor of the village of Farouche Bayet-Dejjan, climbing on his own pile of rubble, what was meant to be a civic building. Knocked down earlier this year, he says, by Israeli forces, again, citing permit issues. Mindful of gunshots, he says,

he hears regularly from Israeli settlers up on a nearby hilltop. Grateful for support for Palestinian statehood from Canada and other countries, he's determined, he says, to stay put. We say that we are on our land, he says. We will keep this land, and we will not have.

leave it. Echoed at this fruit farm a few kilometers away, where owner Mohamed Sadeh, who supplies dates for clients in Canada and worldwide, told us Israeli forces raided the place this week, leaving it intact, but his workers rattled. We want to live in peace, he says. We don't want to start a war. We want our children to live, to have rights like anyone else around the world. All of it left Palestinians here, including Ibrahim Salame,

still standing on the remnants of his house, with a simple message to Israel. What do you say to Benjamin Netanyahu? What have we done? He says. Why is this happening? Paul Hunter, CBC News, in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. Alberta is recording its first measles death since an outbreak began in March. Health officials say a baby was born prematurely and died. after the mother contracted the virus during pregnancy. There have been more than 1,900 measles cases in the province since the outbreak started.

Well, researchers have crunched decades of data about wildfires and found that no corner of the world is safe, even places where fires have been rare. Wildfires have quadrupled in frequency with nearly half of the most damaging fires happening in the last decade. Anait Singh reports on how all that new data could help make communities more. more resilient. A 73-year-old man stands in the black and rubble of his home. From Andong, South Korea. I was this close to paying off my mortgage.

To Altadena, California. I've been homeless for a year trying to get something built. To Jasper, Alberta. These are the lives impacted after wildfires destroy homes and communities, leaving nothing behind. Now a new study has linked together. the dangers for people who live in fire risk areas. With access to a gold mine, a proprietary data,

normally only available to insurance and finance companies, researchers showed how destructive wildfires affecting people on every continent in areas considered fire-prone and not. John Abatzaglu, professor at the University of California, Merced, co-authored the paper. I think for wildfires in many environments, it's not a question of if a fire is going to happen. and it's more about when it's going to happen. Out of 200 of the most destructive and deadly fires in the past 44 years,

nearly half happened just in the past decade. And there's useful information in that data that could help avoid future damage. University of Waterloo Professor Jason Thistlethawait looks at ways to reduce the economic impacts of disasters. You're seeing a scenario where billions of dollars annually and damage are being created by actually only a small area spatially relative to. for instance, let's say Canada's vast boreal forest, that's a good new story because it gives us that bullseye of where we ought to be prioritizing the resources to do something about it.

The study maps out areas of high fire risk, highlighting places where people are most vulnerable and where people should prepare. We know what to do. We know how to defend communities from wildfire. We can build wildfire resistant communities. That includes adaptation measures, like growing the right kinds of trees and plants to make communities more fire resistant, something. Wildland Firefighter and University of British Columbia professor Matthew Bourbonnet says more communities must consider. There's no avoiding these wildfires.

How do we use what we know about mitigation through thinning and prescribed fire to better prepare? How do we create more defensible spaces? All important questions for people as they prepare for a new fiery era. In Ayat Singh, CBC News, Toronto. Stalled by U.S. tariffs and years of declining production. Canada's auto industry is gearing up for yet more pain. Looming cuts at GM's plant in Oshua, Ontario,

are expected to drive mass layoffs across the company's supply chain. Christian Devino has more now on what's happening and how anxious workers are preparing. I grew up just over the side here. My kids live four minutes that way. Walking through a park in his south central Oshua, Ontario neighborhood, Todd Forbes, points off into the distance showing where each of his children live. He knows it well. It's the only place he's ever called home.

The 48-year-old works at TFT Global, one of General Motors suppliers. He was given notice over the summer that his job would be cut and worries he won't be able to find something else in Oscewa. If there's nothing that's really producing here, then it's time to sort of move elsewhere. The downsizing at TFT Global is a result of limiting layoffs at General Motors. The automaker is eliminating 750 jobs in January. Another 1,000 cuts are expected across GM supply chain. Flooding workers into a struggling Oshua market where unemployment is already amongst the highest in Canada. Forbes is now wondering if moving provinces is a better option for his future. Is there a job possibility where I'm making the same kind of money or a little bit less?

What can I get with that amount of money? Some of Oshua's jobs are going across the border to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Earlier this year, the plans hired 250 workers to build the Chevrolet Silver Auto trucks that are also made in Oshua. Rich Leitourneau is with the local United Auto Workers Union in Fort Wayne. He says his union never lobbied to take Canadian jobs. But when the company comes to me to increased volume, I'm not going to tell them no either because it's job security for my people. And hell, if I can corner the market, I will. The Oscewa cuts show how U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs are hammering Canada's auto sector and driving a wedge between auto workers. Jeff

Greg is president of Unifor Local 222, representing GM workers and parts suppliers on this side of the border. It's not that we're angry with the UAW. They're our brothers. They are our sisters. But at the same time, we compete for business. And the playing field right now is not very level. And that concerns us. Fort Wayne resides in Allen County. People there supported Trump's Pro Manufacturing America First Message, voting for him in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Richback is a commissioner with the county. We've seen a significant increase in just phone calls and interest in moving plants in. So from that respect, the tariffs must be working. But tariffs aren't working for everyone.

GM is forecasting a $5 million hit this year. Meantime, Unifier plans to keep the fight going and wants a federal trade deal to be struck. That's something Borgs wants, too. It's not just a community that I'd have to give up. It's the family being close. Assignment echoed across Canada's auto-eastern. industry with workers caught in the headlights of an ongoing trade war. Christian Davino, CBC News, Oshua.

It's a debate that reemerges in Canada, like clockwork. Should we or shouldn't we have daylight saving time? Well, that's the question that's back on the table. in Ottawa, exactly a month before we fall back to standard time. Nicole Williams has the details. The time has come to address time change. Ottawa area member of Parliament Marie-France-Land on Parliament Hill this afternoon, bringing up the age-old question, why do we need to change our clocks in Canada?

It is a practice that increases costs. There's more road accidents. Study shows increases in heart attack, strokes, and even miscarriages following time changes. Those are just some of the reasons why Lalonde is putting forward a private members bill that would see the formation of a pan-Canadian conference on seasonal time change. Dr. Rebecca Rabia from the Canadian Sleep Research Consortium would be among those exploring whether to abolish the time changes that most Canadians endure during the spring and fall.

This is a complex question. Lalonde says it's a long shot, but it is due to. Time regulation is a provincial and territorial jurisdiction, but what we can do and we must do is bring all jurisdiction to the table. There are several regions in Canada that have already ditched the switch, including most of Saskatchewan and parts of B.C., Nunavut, and all of the Yukon. Andrew Smith led the project to end seasonal time change in that territory back in 2020. The idea was, can we move the daylight? so that there's a little bit left somewhere for people to grab on to. He says most people are happier to have extra sunlight in the evenings,

which we get with daylight savings time, but it doesn't account for people like Amy Pekethley in Western Quebec, who appreciates the extra morning light during standard time. In the fall, we definitely wouldn't want to be waking up in the dark. I really need the light, want the light when I get up, and I know the kids, it would be difficult for them as well. As for people like Mike Vahabi in Toronto, he's proposing what he calls super daylight savings. The first weekend in August, we would jump ahead another hour.

I think that would do a lot for businesses who rely on people being out in the evenings. I think it would make it safer for kids to play sports and to continue being outside in the summertime. Okay, that's even less likely to happen. But LaLan says regardless, these are possibilities worth exploring for the benefit of everyone. Her private members bill is scheduled to be formally tabled. next week. Nicole Williams, CBC News, Ottawa. Finally, the world bird photographer of the year is a Canadian. Vancouver photographer Leron Gertzman.

He beat 30,000 other wildlife photographers from around the globe. I'll let Gertzman describe the winning photo, the frigate bird, and the diamond ring. Yeah, so this is a photo of a total solar eclipse, but there is a magnificent frigate bird, this spectacular, teradactyl-esque, massive bird flying right across the total solar eclipse as the very edge of the sun is becoming visible. That's a moment known as the Diamond Ring. It was a fleeting moment that took years of planning, going over maps of upcoming solar eclipses, trying out different cameras with different shutter speeds,

and then spending days before the event watching a particular flock of birds in not ideal conditions. I made a plan where using a boat I would position myself next to sun. some kind of small islets off the coast of Mazatlan. During the eclipse, it would get dark. The birds would think it was nighttime. They'd fly into their island to roost. And using a boat, I'd be able to kind of get underneath them while they were doing that. Fortunately, that prediction came true.

It was exactly what happened. And bobbing up and down on this little coast off the west coast of Mexico, I was able to see hundreds of frigate birds flying in front of the most spectacular thing I've ever seen. No tripods or steady footing. But Gertzman says you have to take chances to get a photo that's never been taken before. He's been taking photos of nature since he was five using what he calls a very basic camera. Any credits where he comes from for his ability to see nature in a certain way. Being born and raised here in Vancouver, I do feel incredibly fortunate to have access to

remarkable natural phenomena right on the doorstep. The salmon run going on, constantly huge numbers of birds and bird migration through the Pacific Flyway down the west coast of British Columbia. So I really credit this part of the world to kind of getting me involved in this career and this passion. Gertzman won around $6,000 for the prize, but he says the biggest win was using his photography to show how beautiful nature can be. Thanks for being with us. This has been your world tonight for Thursday, October 2nd. I'm Angie Seth. Chat soon. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca.ca slash podcasts.