Thank you very much, Ms. Larouche.
I agree completely. I think it's about scaling up and supporting existing initiatives that we know are evidence-based and that we know get the results we want to see.
I will comment on two things. One is the salary equity issue.
Pay equity is really an extreme priority across Canada. Social workers aren't paid enough.
We have to create pay equity across our acute and non-acute hospital-based and non-hospital-based health care settings.
The other issue we are experiencing is that not only are our frontline mental health care workers who are working in the community working at a reduced salary; they're also experiencing higher levels of burnout and stress. They are leaving the profession, often going to the private sector, and leaving community-based organizations without the adequate staffing needed to sustain scaling up and bring sustainability to their programming.
When it comes to the Canada mental health transfer, as I said, we need to see 50% earmarked for community-based care. We know that investments are already going to hospitals and physicians through the Canada Health Act. The Canada mental health transfer has the opportunity to redirect resources to the sector, which has been starved of resources for decades now. That's a problem created by the Canada Health Act.
By creating a Canada mental health transfer, we can see an influx of resources to these organizations.
As you mentioned, Ms. Larouche, these organizations need money and resources to adequately support their prevention programs.