Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the member for advocating on behalf of the mental health of seniors.
You're absolutely right. I think many Canadians worry most about the mental health of the seniors who, for their own protection, are isolated. I think we can all think of someone in our lives who is alone and needs us more than ever—ironically, as we are being told to stay apart.
That is why we launched the Wellness Together Canada portal to provide confidential support. I've spoken extensively about that. It's certainly available for seniors, but I think the additional investment in the new horizons for seniors program is also worthy of talking about. This additional $20 million is to support these community-based projects. Most of us know about these programs in our ridings. They're small programs, but they're mighty programs. Oftentimes, they are building programs that are face to face in communities, and this additional investment is allowing for many of these different kinds of organizations—oftentimes, not-for-profit organizations—to find new ways to keep seniors connected in their communities.
Some of the innovation that you can imagine is connecting seniors with young people digitally, for example, and making sure that seniors have the ability to have the tools they need in place to communicate via FaceTime, for example. These are in some cases new tools for seniors—not always—but certainly I want to thank and commend those not-for-profit organizations for thinking outside the box all across the country and doing that incredibly hard work to keep people buoyed and comforted during this time.