An NDP MP from Vancouver Island is tabling a private member’s bill hoping to make mental health services more accessible for Canadians.
Courtenay-Alberni NDP MP and Mental Health and Harm Reduction Critic Gord Johns introduced a bill aiming to include community-based mental health, addictions, and substance use services to the public health care system.
In a press release, Johns said the bill aims to ensure mental health is treated equally to physical health.
“Mental health is health. Anyone in need of mental health support should be able to find it, and not go broke when they get it.”
The bill ensures Canadians can get access without worrying about the cost of doing so by paying with health cards instead of credit cards.
The release calls out the Liberal government for promising to make mental health an equal part in the public health care system but failing to do so.
One in five Canadians experience a mental health problem or illness a year, and a poll in 2023 from the Canadian Mental Health Association found 87 per cent of Canadians want universal mental health care.
