44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 20, 2022 10:00AM
- Oct/20/22 7:13:42 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I wonder if our hon. colleague could tell us exactly what Quebec's provincial mental health plan is.
20 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/20/22 7:14:54 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I thank my colleague for his speech.
I am working with mental health organizations in Quebec and I, too, am willing to acknowledge Quebec's leadership in this area. That is why it was recognized in the federal-provincial bilateral agreement and the action plan my colleague was talking about.
A total of $11 million was announced in the 2017-18 economic and fiscal update, and that amount was increased to $20 million in 2018-19 for the subsequent years in order to support the implementation of this action plan.
I would like to know whether my colleague agrees that discussions between the provinces and the federal government are important in order to properly address the crisis and mental health needs.
125 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/20/22 7:15:59 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, obviously that is important, but the money needs to be there. I am not saying that we do not need to talk about or collaborate on mental health. On the contrary, I am saying that we need to do so within the limits of our responsibilities and jurisdictions. We need to take a complementary approach.
Quebec already has national standards, by the way, because it is a nation. We do not need more layers of bureaucracy. What we need is money at the ground level to take care of people.
92 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/20/22 7:17:38 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I agree with the idea that we must take a holistic approach to mental health. In some cases, it is the chicken or the egg conundrum. Someone's mental health will deteriorate because of a physical problem and vice versa. We must therefore look at the person as a whole. I do think that both legislatures must take a complementary approach.
In order to give more help to people, to strengthen and reinforce the weak links in the health care systems from coast to coast to coast, including in Quebec, the federal government must give us the necessary financial resources and ensure that we have substantial, and above all recurring, health transfers. Even the Canadian Mental Health Association says that the problem is that the government makes one-time investments. It takes stability and predictability to rebuild the system and make action plans that will actually be effective in helping our people.
154 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/20/22 7:19:14 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, I apologize to my friend, but perhaps he could state this one more time.
I just want to know again the amount of money that Quebec has committed to its mental health plan, as well as the seven pillars. I am not quite sure I heard that there was anything in them for addictions or recovery. I wonder if Quebec is seeing the same things that the province of British Columbia is seeing in terms of the opioid crisis that is spiralling out of control.
Perhaps our colleague could take the next minute and a half to speak to that.
102 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Oct/20/22 7:57:36 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, in his speech, my colleague across the way talked about the fact that the longer we wait to fund the services, the worse the situation will become. In the middle of the third wave, experts came to the Standing Committee on Health to tell us that we absolutely needed to quickly shift from one-time funding to ongoing, stable and predictable funding to reinforce our health networks. There is consensus not just in Quebec, but in every province. Quebec is certainly advocating to have health transfers increased to 35% with 6% indexing.
Will my colleague pressure his government to get that money on the ground as soon as possible? As he said, the situation is deteriorating day by day.
121 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
