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Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 114

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 20, 2022 10:00AM
  • Oct/20/22 1:04:05 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do not know if my colleagues remember, but I remember when gas prices dropped to levels I had not seen since 2005. I told my partner that the pendulum would swing back the other way, that the price would soon go back up, and that it would not be good for the public because businesses would make up their profits when the pandemic was over. It seems that is exactly what is happening, with the huge profits we are seeing now. I would like to hear what my colleague thinks about the possibility of taxing the oil companies' excess profits and taking a long-term view, instead of putting half measures in place.
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  • Oct/20/22 2:21:40 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would obviously pose a question. During the pandemic, what would the Conservatives have cut? What supports would they not have offered to Canadians? In what way would they have not been there when Canadians needed them the most? The second question I would ask is this. As we enter a time that is the most difficult probably that the globe has faced since the Second World War, it demands responsible leadership. Amplifying anxiety is easy; solutions are hard. Are the Conservatives going to support dental care for those who need it?
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  • Oct/20/22 2:32:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am happy to address that member's question. For weeks now, the Leader of the Opposition has considered our pandemic spending frivolous. I respectfully disagree. I think the millions of Canadians who kept their jobs and stayed employed because of the CEWS disagree. I think the millions of Canadians who were able to feed their children because of the CERB disagree. I think the hundreds of thousands of businesses whose doors are still open today because of our investments would disagree. Thank goodness we were here, because the Leader of the Opposition does not want to lead.
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  • Oct/20/22 2:58:07 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, throughout the pandemic, keeping Canadians safe has always been our top priority. That is why we used the ArriveCAN app. CBSA is aware of concerns surrounding contracts and it is looking into the matter further.
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  • Oct/20/22 3:04:28 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, throughout the pandemic, our number one priority was the health and safety of Canadians. The ArriveCAN app was part of the response to that. As I have said numerous times in this House, CBSA is aware of issues with the contract and it is looking into them.
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  • Oct/20/22 6:21:16 p.m.
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moved That this committee take note of mental health. She said: Madam Chair, I would first like to acknowledge that I am on the unceded and traditional territory of the Kanyen'kehà:ka who have been the stewards of these lands and waters since time immemorial. I believe it is important that parliamentarians be able to demonstrate to Canadians that we share their concerns and are listening to those with lived experience of this issue, the experts and the frontline workers. We will implement evidence-based practices to respond the the mental health parallel pandemic. The past few years have been difficult for several reasons. Isolation, financial and employment uncertainty, and disruptions to daily life have left many people across Canada struggling to cope with stress, anxiety, depression and loneliness, and young people are expressing their serious concern about climate change. It is clear that COVID-19 has pushed an already stressed health care system to its limits, and we know that it can be a challenge for Canadians to know where to look for help, find help, find the right help and access that help right away. Sadly, during this time, when so many of us needed support, support was all too often out of reach. Caring for those struggling with their mental health and substance use has not been consistently available across Canada, and when it was available, Canadians often faced long waiting lists. This is not a new problem, but like so many gaps in our health and social systems, it was amplified by the pandemic. Those who were underserved by our health and mental health systems before the pandemic are suffering even more now. More than half of all Canadians feel that their mental health has worsened since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 70 years ago, Canadian war veteran Dr. Brock Chisholm, the first director general of the World Health Organization, stated, “without mental health there can be no true physical health.” Mental health must be treated as a full and equal part of our universal health care system. Canadians should be able to expect the most appropriate care in the most appropriate place by the most appropriate provider at the most appropriate time. We are working with the Standards Council of Canada, as well as our provincial and territorial partners, to develop national standards for evidence-based mental health and addiction services in the priority areas identified with our provincial and territorial colleagues. The work is being supported by $45 million over two years, and we are encouraged by the incredible early progress on national standards for integrated youth services, the wraparound care now being adopted by all jurisdictions. Since 2015, we have made historic investments, including the $5 billion to provinces and territories to increase the availability of mental health care, $598 million from the distinctions-based mental health and wellness strategy for indigenous peoples, $140 million to support veterans and $270 million for the Wellness Together portal. Through the $5 billion in provincial and territorial bilateral agreements, we are now providing $600 million additional annual funding until 2027 to expand access to community-based mental health and addiction services for children and youth and integrated services for people with complex needs, and to expand proven models of community mental health care and culturally appropriate interventions linked to primary health services. We also remain fully committed to investing another $4.5 billion through the Canada mental health transfer. Over the past year, we have heard clearly from partners and the community that the new transfer needs to be based upon a comprehensive, evidence-based plan, including the timely sharing of health data to ensure transparency and accountability to all Canadians. Last Monday, I met with my provincial and territorial mental health and addictions counterparts to share wise practices. Next month, the Minister of Health and I will meet with all provincial and territorial health ministers in Vancouver to chart our way forward, focusing particularly on health human resources, including the expansion of the concept of the mental health workforce. Tonight I would like to congratulate and thank my colleague from Prince George being appointed critic for mental health and for his hard work on suicide prevention and the 988 three-digit helpline. We also know that it is essential for Canadians to have timely access to suicide prevention. They need to know they are not alone. We welcome the CRTC's decision to approve the new 988 three-digit suicide prevention line, and are working to ensure it has the capacity for a successful launch next fall, together with the national action plan on suicide prevention, which will update the existing framework. We have partnered with CAMH to oversee the implementation of the crisis line, and we are investing $21 million over five years through CAMH to implement and sustain a fully operational pan-Canadian suicide prevention service. We are also working closely with American counterparts to learn from their four-year implementation process for the similar service they launched earlier this year. Tonight it is imperative that we all communicate that, if people are struggling with thoughts of suicide right now, or know someone who is, help is available at 1-833-456-4566. While the pandemic exacerbated the gaps in mental health supports available to Canadians, it also accelerated the use of virtual care options to help expand the availability and flexibility of those services. In April 2020, we launched Wellness Together Canada. Its online portal has served as an invaluable connection for many Canadians, allowing them to get the help they need even when they could not leave their homes, and it can be used as a stepping stone to receive advice on where to find more specialized care. The companion app, PocketWell, also ensures that Canadians have access to the mental health and substance abuse services they need, no matter where they live, and that they are able to access resources 24-7. As of October 17, nearly three million individuals across Canada have accessed the portal in over eight million web sessions, and the app has been downloaded over 30,000 times. A total of $130 million was invested in the Wellness Together Canada portal between April 2020 and April 2022. Budget 2022 has provided a further $140 million over two years, so it can continue to provide Canadians with tools and services to support them. The feedback from the users of the portal has been very positive. Although COVID has resulted in more people struggling with mental health, it seems to also have resulted in us all becoming a bit more open to talk about our own mental health. When more people are comfortable talking about mental health, it helps to reduce the stigma that is still a tremendous barrier to seeking care, but the care must be there when they need it. We must design wraparound supports from the bottom up, listening to those with lived and living experience, together with the people who are in their communities who are doing such great work. We know there is much more to do. I look forward to participating in this timely and important debate. I also look forward to hearing what my hon. colleagues believe we can do to better support Canadians' mental health.
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  • Oct/20/22 6:38:56 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank the member for Guelph for all of his advocacy and for hosting us in Guelph, where we learned a lot about the great things happening on the ground there not only at the university but throughout his community. We cannot pretend that we can go forward without being able to fund what works and stop funding what does not work, or without understanding the areas of greater need and being able to put additional resources there. We can only do that with data. Last week, I was pleased that the OECD thanked me for my intervention on data at the world mental health conference. Even with the opioid crisis, at the moment, the Public Health Agency of Canada has placed federal public servants in each of the provinces and territories just so we can get data on the opioid crisis. With the pandemic, the provinces have been struggling, and we cannot do this without the appropriate data. As we have seen with COVID, we now have better data on immunizations, diseases, emergency visits and ICUs. I hope that will transfer into a real ability, as I am meeting with the health ministers next month, for us all to understand that Canadians deserve to know what is working.
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  • Oct/20/22 7:12:07 p.m.
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Madam Chair, my colleague from Joliette has a great sense of humour. As I said at the outset, just because someone wants to do good does not mean they are doing good, especially if they are infringing on someone else's autonomy. Usually, this applies to an individual, but it can also apply to a national government that has already thought things through and developed action plans to improve its performance and its mental health care in collaboration with community groups. I want to acknowledge community groups since this is autonomous community action week. These groups are underfunded, but they are propping up the front lines. If we want to reinvigorate these essential mental health resources, then we need to offer these people decent wages and not let them burn out because of the pandemic, which exacerbated mental health needs. I commend the people working on the front lines in community action, because fixing this issue will certainly take concrete action at every level. In my opinion, these people are keeping the system going.
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  • Oct/20/22 7:21:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, we know the mental health crisis has been referred to as the parallel pandemic. This House has not had a debate on how to respond to this. Earlier this month, I rose and sought an emergency debate on Canada’s mental health crisis, but unfortunately it was denied. I want to thank the minister, as she acknowledged tonight we have never had this conversation about mental health until tonight and we have never had a proper debate. I want to thank the Conservatives and the Bloc and their House leaders for agreeing to have this important conversation, because it took all parties to agree to do this take-note debate. Over the last two and a half years, the mental health of Canadians has been negatively impacted by the loss, social isolation and financial strain the pandemic has brought. We all have constituents struggling with their mental health, and many of us have loved ones who are as well. My good friend from Vancouver Kingsway always says that there is not a family not touched by the mental health or substance use crisis in this country. I really want to thank my colleague from Cariboo—Prince George for sharing his personal story about his brother Kevin and his brother-in-law. We hear those personal stories from our constituents every day as parliamentarians, and it is painful to hear. We know we are going into a period where we are seeing a lot of impacts right now on people's health. The cost of living is rapidly rising and likely we are going to see a recession. The stress Canadians are facing has not abated. Just yesterday, the Minister of Finance warned Canadians of difficult days ahead and suggested the federal government might not be there to help. Now more than ever we must recognize that mental health is health, and we need to take steps to ensure Canadians have equitable access to the services they need. This month, the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction released a joint report on the continuing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of Canadians, which detailed some alarming findings. According to polling conducted for the report, 35% of respondents reported moderate to severe mental health concerns. We see that as parliamentarians. It also found that fewer than one in three people with current mental health concerns accessed services. That is alarming. The report identified key barriers to accessing services as “financial constraints, not having readily available help, not knowing how and where to get help, and long wait-lists.” The report identified financial concerns as a top stressor during the pandemic and discussed the links between income and unemployment with mental health concerns. Given the current economic forecast, there is a real risk the mental health and substance use crisis will worsen in the months ahead. That is scary. As my colleagues have identified, 10 Canadians die a day from suicide and 21 from a toxic overdose. We also know health care workers and first responders have been raising the alarm that our health care system is under tremendous pressure. Unfortunately, too many people struggling with mental health issues are left with nowhere to turn but crowded emergency rooms. A worsening mental health and substance use crisis will only push our health care system closer to collapse. It is clear we need to make sure people can get help in their communities before they are in crisis. While there are many great organizations working hard to support Canadians struggling with mental health issues, we know they are running on fumes. The demand for mental health services has increased since the onset of the pandemic, but that demand cannot be met under the current system when frontline organizations are having to worry about keeping the lights on. They need help and they need help now. We need system change that will finally bring mental health care fully into our universal public health care system once and for all. We need sustainable funding to ensure all Canadians have access to services when they need them. In the last election, the Liberals made a promise to Canadians that they would take steps to improve access to mental health care in Canada. A cornerstone of the Liberals’ promises on mental health was to establish a new permanent transfer to the provinces and territories to expand publicly funded mental health care and address backlogs. Canadians were told an initial investment of $4.5 billion over five years would be made in the Canada mental health transfer. Now, $250 million of that funding was supposed to be delivered in 2021-22, with an additional $625 million in 2022-23. To date, of that money, no funding has been delivered. There has been no transparency from the government on when the money would get out the door. Last week the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health, with the support of 65 organizations from health and allied sectors, wrote an open letter to the minister expressing concern about the delay in establishing the mental health transfer and calling on the government to take immediate steps to fulfill this important and critical campaign commitment. The minister has taken the position that national performance standards must be developed prior to the creation of the Canada mental health transfer. However, the open letter I referred to demonstrated there is a clear consensus from the mental health community that the development of these standards should not delay the Canada mental health transfer. There is an urgent need for increased mental health services in communities right across the country. Wait times for publicly funded mental health services are unacceptably long. In Ontario, where we are right now, there are more than 28,000 children on wait-lists for community-based mental health services. The wait could range from 67 days to more than 2.5 years, depending on the service, exceeding clinically appropriate wait times. For children and youth, delays in accessing care could have lifelong impacts for them, their family and society. Tragically, it could also be a matter of life and death. According to Stats Canada, suicide is the leading cause of death among youth and young adults aged 15 to 34. This has touched my life and those of many people here in this chamber, as we have discussed tonight. UNICEF has reported that Canada has one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the world. We heard my colleague from Nunavut just two days ago share that tragic story of someone who could not find housing. This is unacceptable in a wealthy country like Canada. It is preventable. For those struggling with substance use disorders, waiting could also be a matter of life and death. Across Canada the average wait time for adult residential treatment for substance use is 100 days. Every day that someone must wait for access to treatment or harm reduction services, they are put at risk because of the toxic drug supply. The Canada mental health transfer would provide an infusion of money for services that could save lives now. It is urgently needed, but there is other critical work that must be done to transform mental health here in Canada. Beyond the mental health transfer, mental health advocates have been long calling for legislation to enshrine law parity between mental and physical health. Last month I tabled private member's Motion No. 67, and I hope my colleagues will second it, calling on the government to finally develop that legislation and urgently fulfill its promise to establish the Canada mental health transfer. I hope all members of the House will recognize the crisis we are in and support these urgently needed calls to action. Untreated or inadequately treated mental health carries significant social and economic costs. The Mental Health Commission of Canada estimates that mental health issues and illnesses cost Canada at least $50 billion a year, not including the more than $6 billion in lost productivity. Relative to the disease burden caused by mental health and compared to our G7 and OECD peers, Canada is underspending on mental health. France spends 15% of its health care budget on mental health, whereas the U.K. spends 13%. Canada, depending on the province or territory, spends between 5% and 7%. We are falling way short. For the well-being of Canadians, for our economy and our communities, mental health cannot wait. It is time to invest in the care Canadians deserve, and to truly treat mental health like health. We need to listen to the experts. We need to listen to the expert task force on substance use. We need to listen to the 67 organizations. I hope that together we can do that.
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  • Oct/20/22 7:49:33 p.m.
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Madam Chair, there is no question that there is enormous urgency. This morning, I had a meeting with the YMCA in London, a virtual meeting of course, and we engaged in a conversation about some of the challenges they are facing. They are also an outstanding group that deserves attention and positive comments. What I can say to the member is that, throughout the pandemic, this government stood up for frontline organizations like no other government ever had. It was truly impressive to see fundamental and emergency funding flow to organizations that helped Canadians through. Certainly, yes, they are faced with a difficult time right now, and government should continue to be there for them as much as possible. There is a need for fiscal restraint, and I think we all should understand that, but that does not mean that organizations cannot continue to receive support. I think all of us can collaborate to find ways to ensure that outcome.
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  • Oct/20/22 8:49:18 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I really appreciate my colleague speaking to the sense of urgency. I have a quote from Children's Mental Health Ontario, CMHO, which reads: Kids have borne the weight of this pandemic. They continue to wait on lists for care that were already too long pre-pandemic—some waiting as long as two and a half years in parts of Ontario. The longer kids wait for care, the worse their outcomes are—increasing the likelihood of a mental health crisis or having to visit an emergency room for care. We can do better. We can do better, and I think we all agree children need to be our priority. The Liberals say they cannot get it done because the provinces and territories cannot get an agreement. They were able to do it with child care. Does my colleague agree that the stigma is the problem? If this was truly a priority, they would have the provinces and the territories at the table and would have negotiated an agreement by now.
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  • Oct/20/22 9:02:48 p.m.
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Madam Chair, as many of my colleagues have said, five minutes is far too little to speak to this issue, but it is a privilege to be here in the House this evening representing the riding of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill to speak in this take-note debate. Before I begin my comments, I would like to inform the Chair that I will be sharing my time with the member for York Centre. I am a new member of Parliament, so I was somewhat astounded when I heard people say that this is the first debate we have had in the House on mental health. It is such an important issue, and as a member opposite said, we are far beyond talking about whether mental health is health. We all agree it is, and we know it is an urgent issue. I appreciate the vulnerability and the candour of everyone sharing their personal experiences. I too have lived experience with mental health challenges in my family, and I know the effects they can have on people leading to a serious disease. There is such a range when we talk about mental health. We talk about mental health and mental illness, but while talking about severe mental illness and talking about trauma, whether for veterans or those living with abuse, these all have different manifestations, so I think just saying “mental health” sometimes does not really do it justice, because it would be like, in other areas of health, just talking about cancer. There are so many types, so many treatments and so many needs. I agree with all I have heard this evening on the urgent need for more support and more funding, but I would also like to say I am very proud to be part of a government that has the first Minister of Mental Health and Addictions. We have made considerable commitments in this area. We have already spent over $5 billion on new bilateral agreements. In addition, during the pandemic, we had support for organizations that were providing mental health, and one area I would like to talk about is women and mental health, because COVID was often called a “she-cession”. I think it affected women in many ways, and one of them was women's mental health. In my riding of Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, there are organizations that have done such great work helping women to cope with mental health crises, and as we know, the health crises and health challenges women are facing affect the entire family, in particular children. The work the Women's Centre of York Region has done, along with that done by the Yellow Brick House and the Sandgate shelter, has been so important for supporting women during this pandemic. Also, the CMHA in our area is working with women, but it is also developing one of the first mental health crisis hubs in our area, and this is an innovative hub that will be an alternative to emergency rooms for families and will connect families and individuals with the supports that are available in the region. This is so important, because as we know that immediate help is often needed. I believe our government has committed $4.5 billion in continued health support for mental health, and we have a responsibility to ensure that this money is used effectively and efficiently, and that there is transparency, so we are continuing to work with the partners, territories and provinces to ensure that there is clear and transparent reporting and that there are standards that we will all work together and collaborate on to address this mental health crisis. It is really amazing to hear all of us here agreeing that there is a need for this kind of support, and I think that we can all work together to move this forward and to ensure these needs are taken care of urgently, so the people out there who need the help can receive it.
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  • Oct/20/22 9:12:12 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I am honoured to rise in the House this evening to take part in this debate on how we can work together to improve the mental health of Canadians. Much has come up already in tonight's discussion, and I want to acknowledge that I, along with the member of Cariboo—Prince George, and many members of the all-party mental health caucus, have made a commitment, time and again, to address the serious challenges of the mental health of Canadians together. As some in this House know, when I came into the chamber, mental health and the well-being of Canadians was one of the key issues I wanted to work collaboratively on with colleagues, because as we all know, the need has never been more urgent than it is right now. The pandemic laid bare that decades of stigma over generations of families, friends, children, youth and loved ones struggling in silence have taken a tremendous toll and that no longer could suffering in silence be an option. While stigma has been a barrier to access for many, access to services, particularly dedicated community mental health teams, has been out of reach due to lack of resources and capacity, which is in part why we are here tonight. I do not know a single family where mental health, mental illness and addictions have not been a part of life at some point. It is the story of so many Canadians: mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, nieces and nephews. Like other members of this House, it is my story too. Today, my nephew would have been 23 years old, just out of university and with so many opportunities ahead of him. However, no amount of an endless lifetime of love could help him. We lost him to suicide on April 6, 2014, at the age of 15. Suicide prevention is anchored in the dedicated community mental health teams that tirelessly fill the gaps and fight to keep their doors open every single day. On that day, my heart and my family's hearts were broken, and it was community mental health that has helped us heal. He was brave and strong for all the right and all the wrong reasons. He fought to keep his illness out of his public life and to be a champion of all that is good. He fought against his inner anger and loneliness. He fought against himself, his fears and his anxiety, all at far too young an age for his years. While these battles raged inside him, he fought with those closest to him struggling to get him help, and the tragic war inside of him won. The system at the time, underfunded and understaffed for youth and their families, was helpless. Between 2017 and 2019, there were approximately 4,500 deaths by suicide per year in Canada, which is the equivalent of 12 people dying by suicide every single day. The numbers have continued to rise. My nephew, like so many Canadians, is more than a number. I know we can do more and I have hope, because we are doing more. A three-digit national suicide prevention number is one of the many steps we are taking. Alongside these steps, the most important work we are doing is speaking to Canadians in our communities and to those with lived experience. We know the current federal suicide prevention framework of 2012 needs to be enhanced, modernized and driven by data and by our stories. It also needs to be actioned, and I am hopeful and supportive of the minister's commitment to implement the new strategy next fall. We need an evidence-based federal suicide prevention strategy to save lives, no matter where Canadians live, in every part of this country. Our government is committed to ensuring that mental health care is treated as a full and equal part of our universal health system. The $5 billion over ten years that we have committed to for Canadians is starting to make a difference by expanding access to community-based mental health and addiction services for children and youth, and integrated services for people with complex needs. I invite everyone in the House to do more. We can do more. We have all said that mental health is health, and it must be the guiding principle in our conversations, in our communities and in this House. I look forward to working with all members.
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  • Oct/20/22 9:20:30 p.m.
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Madam Chair, I thank my hon. colleague for sharing her story. I want to give her an opportunity to elaborate a bit, given the fact that we have had a global pandemic with isolation and a lot of young people did not have the experience of graduating with their class or seeing their classmates. Has this actually increased the likelihood of seeing the supports needed for youth and mental health? Could she elaborate on that?
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  • Oct/20/22 9:39:19 p.m.
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Madam Chair, often we do disagree on things, policy-related and whatnot. However, I am so pleased that there is common agreement. We may differ a little on what that action looks like, but I am so pleased that in this House, and across the country, we could find significant agreement with our provincial counterparts to ensure that we simply get to work. With respect to the consequences of COVID, although we are seeing the pandemic-related measures subside, the consequences of the mental health side of things are going to be long felt. That certainly has to be addressed when developing both the frameworks surrounding the health transfer and other related areas of policy regarding mental health in Canada.
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  • Oct/20/22 9:48:47 p.m.
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Madam Chair, that is such an important point, which I completely agree with. When individuals do not get the mental health supports they need, it does not just impact those individuals, but it also impacts us as a whole, as well as their loved ones and our communities. It costs us all money. There are ripple effects and costs associated with us not living to our full and healthiest capacity. We spend a lot of time right now, in light of the pandemic, reacting to mental illness, rather than putting in place the prevention that can actually save us money, if we want to look at the economic benefits. My hope is that with these conversations today, we can come together and make sure that Canadians have access to the supports they need.
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