WINNIPEG – Manitoba’s Liberals say they would make mental-health care a priority if the party were to win the Sept. 10 provincial election.
Leader Dougald Lamont said a Liberal government would cover clinical psychological therapy as part of medicare and invest in training mental-health professionals.
It would also pay for psychological assessments and treatments for children with learning and behavioural disabilities.
Lamont said waiting lists for assessments currently stand at two to three years in some parts of the province.
He says he has heard from many families who have struggled to get their children into therapy because they don’t have insurance and waiting lists are long.
He adds that Manitoba, at five per cent, spends less on mental-health care than the national average of seven per cent.
WATCH: ‘We’ve got a problem’: Manitoba Liberal leader calls for rules and penalties for bad behaviour