Bill C-201

An Act to amend the Canada Health Act (mental, addictions and substance use health services)

This enactment amends the Canada Health Act to add mental, addictions and substance use health services to the definition of “insured health services”.

Mental Health

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to table a petition on behalf of constituents on Vancouver Island.

Petitioners are highlighting that Canada is experiencing a mental health and substance use crisis that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. They highlight that too many Canadians are unable to access mental health or substance use supports in a timely manner, that the lack of access to community-based mental health and substance use services increases demands on hospital emergency rooms and primary care providers, and that untreated and inadequately treated mental illness carries significant social and economic costs.

Petitioners are calling on the government to support Bill C-201 and legislate parity between physical and mental health in Canada's universal public health care system to ensure timely access to evidence-based, culturally appropriate and publicly funded mental health and substance use services beyond hospital and physician settings.

Third, petitioners are calling on the government to establish the Canada mental health transfer that the Liberals promised to sustainably fund the provision of mental health and substance use services, and to immediately disburse an initial investment of $4.5 billion for mental health care and substance use services to the provinces and territories.

Mental Health and Addictions

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, Canada is in a mental health crisis and young people are being hit hardest, yet counselling, therapy and treatment still depend on workplace benefits or the ability to pay in a two-tier system. The PBO confirmed that bringing mental health care under the Canada Health Act and achieving parity with physical health care through Bill C-201 would cost just 1.5% of total public health spending.

Will the minister act now and bring mental health care under the Canada Health Act, yes or no?

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, as members are well aware, I am rising again, as I have on many occasions in the past, to raise the issue of mental health for Canadians and the government's failure to follow through on its commitments. I am flagging that again because mental health is health.

Back on October 7, I asked the minister why the Liberals were abandoning their promise to make mental health a full and equal part of Canada's universal public health care system. At the time, I indicated this: “It is estimated [that] every dollar invested in mental health generates two dollars of long-term savings, while untreated mental health issues cost our economy more than $50 billion every year.”

First of all, I need to correct the record right now. That figure of $50 billion was from 2012. A new report released earlier this year by the Mental Health Commission of Canada estimates that the monetary cost associated with untreated mental health issues is actually more like $200 billion. That is an increase of $150 billion over 13 years.

I asked the Minister of Health to acknowledge that it is time to invest in the mental health of Canadians as a nation-building project. The response I received during question period, and I am being quite generous here, was woefully disappointing. She said, “Mental health is top of mind for this new government”.

We do not see that reality reflected in actual investment dollars in the past budget, apart from some funding for youth mental health that the NDP helped advocate for. Again, the Liberals made commitments in their 2025 election campaign that they would make the youth mental health fund permanent and earmark $150 million per year toward it, beginning this year and continuing through fiscal year 2028-29. They failed to do that.

What happened to these great ideas between the recent federal election and the budget? Even if the government followed through on its campaign promises, these figures are woefully inadequate, and they fall far short of meeting the $200 billion in annual costs to the Canadian economy resulting from untreated mental health issues, as I stated earlier. If the government is actually serious about improving productivity in this country, we need to double investments in mental health and we need to support workers, especially when we look at nation building. Investing in mental health is nation building. It does help support the GDP.

We are only spending about half what our peer countries do on mental health, when we look at the OECD average, and we are seeing the results of that underfunding. I go outside, and I can see the impact. Every family in this country is touched by someone struggling with mental health issues. Mental health funding is an investment in Canada's workforce, and while the youth mental health fund is an important investment, we need to ensure that all Canadians can access appropriate supports.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information found in data published just last month that in 2024, 41% of Canadian adults and 36% of children who needed mental health care had needs that were only partially met or were completely unmet. That shows we have a long way to go. As Canadians, we pride ourselves on taking care of each other, but right now too many people are being left to struggle on their own.

It is time to change that. It is time to finally bring mental health into our universal public health care system. That is why I tabled the first private member's bill in the 45th Parliament, Bill C-201. If that bill was passed, it would bring community-based mental health services into the Canada Health Act so that we would have parity, and all Canadians would access supports with a health card, not a credit card.

My question for the minister and the parliamentary secretary is whether they will commit here and now to fixing the Canada Health Act to ensure that we have parity with mental and physical health and make sure that it is implemented in our universal public health care system.

[Gord Johns, NDP, Courtenay—Alberni, BC]

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I tabled the first private member's bill in this Parliament, Bill C-201, which aims to bring mental health, addictions and substance use services into our universal public health care system. The last Liberal government promised to ensure that mental health was treated as a full and equal part of Canada's public health care system, but it failed to deliver.

Untreated mental illness has enormous costs for families, communities and our economy. Will the new government recognize that investing in mental health is good for all Canadians and support my bill?