In Canada, the mental health crisis is real: Right now, of the 67 million Canadians are struggling with a mental health issue—including children and young adults—too many will experience long wait times for treatment, turn to emergency rooms or shelters when in crisis, or worse, end up in the criminal justice system.
Despite our proud history of providing high-quality universal health care to all Canadians, we spend only 7% of our national health care budget on mental health—putting us near the bottom among developed countries for mental health funding.
We are failing our family, friends and neighbours when it comes to mental health treatment and supports—we can’t afford to wait any longer to close the mental health care gap in every province and territory.
No more discrimination. No more ignorance. No more lack of dollars. It’s time we gave mental illness the same priority as any other illness. It's time for everyone to understand that #MentalHealthIsHealth.
Put simply: We need to close the care gap between mental health and physical health by increasing targeted mental health funding in every province and territory.
By increasing targeted mental health funding, we can ensure that mental health treatment is timely, and that no one suffers—or, worse, sees their condition deteriorate—while waiting to receive the treatment they need.
And by investing in improved access to preventive services, early intervention, psychotherapies, and community mental health initiatives, we can close the justice gap and make sure that no one suffers needlessly because they do not have the funds to pay for private mental health care.
“I believe mental health is health—and must be a top priority for health care in my province.”