O’Toole promises more mental health funding for provinces if elected

A Conservative government would work with the provinces to invest in mental health, transferring them enough funds for an extra one million Canadians to receive treatment each year, party leader Erin O’Toole announced Wednesday.

The pledge comes amid a COVID-19 pandemic that has taken a toll on well-being. O’Toole cited the results of a Statistics Canada survey from March that found that one in five Canadians screened positive for symptoms of depression, anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder following a year of lockdowns, social isolation and economic precarity.

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“Someone you know is struggling right now,” he said. “The mental health crisis is the epidemic within the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The promise is part of a broader pledge of $60 billion more in health transfers over the next decade. It forms one of the Tory leader’s five election platform “pillars” and colours an emerging self-portrait of a compassionate Conservative focused on jobs and prosperity as well as wellness and addiction.

At a campaign stop Wednesday in Brantford, Ont., O’Toole repeated his plan to offer a tax credit to employers for 25 per cent of the cost of mental health coverage, create a national suicide prevention hotline and fund charities with $150 million in grants over three years to deliver wellness programming.

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O’Toole said a Conservative government would provide $1 billion over five years to boost funding for Indigenous mental health and drug treatment programs, with culturally appropriate supports.

The Liberal budget from April earmarks millions to government bodies to develop national mental health service standards and back support projects for groups “disproportionately impacted by COVID-19,” while the NDP is promising mental health care for uninsured Canadians.