Mr. Speaker, I am honoured to rise today to table a petition on behalf of Canadians who are deeply concerned about the worsening mental health and substance use crisis across our country, a crisis that has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Petitioners note that too many Canadians are unable to access timely mental health or substance use supports. They point out that when care is not available in the community, people are left to rely on overcrowded hospital emergency rooms or primary care providers, while untreated or inadequately treated mental illness carries enormous social and economic costs.
The petitioners therefore call on the Government of Canada to take urgent action by legislating parity between physical and mental health in Canada's universal public health care system; ensuring timely access to evidence-based, culturally appropriate and publicly funded mental health and substance use services beyond hospital and physician settings; and, lastly, establishing the Canada mental health transfer to sustainably fund these services.
The petitioners are clear: Canadians deserve a health care system where mental health is treated with the same urgency, priority and respect as physical health.