Mr. Speaker, I am very concerned about the financial implications of this bill. Indeed, I fear that the government did not do its homework and plan for adequate transfers to the provinces in order to meet their needs in the area of treating mental illness.
Let us look at the facts. A PBO document states the following:
Assuming that the new CHT escalator is maintained indefinitely, PBO projects that the share of federal CHT cash payments in provincial-territorial health spending will decrease substantially from 20.4% in 2010-11 to average 18.6% over 2011-12 to 2035-36; then 13.8% over the following 25 years; and, 11.9% over the remainder of the projection horizon.
This means that health transfers to the provinces are expected to decrease over the long term. As a result, I am very concerned about the fact that the government has not sufficiently planned how it will meet the provinces' needs in this area.