Newly appointed Minister of Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health Carolyn Bennett in Ottawa on Oct. 26.LARS HAGBERG/AFP/Getty Images
One of the few surprises in Tuesday’s unveiling of the new federal cabinet was the appointment of Carolyn Bennett as the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions.
If nothing else, the symbolism is important.
But at a time when mental health is on our minds like never before – thanks largely to the psychological beat-down COVID-19 has delivered, individually and collectively – we need more than symbolism.
Research conducted by the Canadian Mental Health Association found 44 per cent of women and 32 per cent of men have experienced a decline in mental health since the start of the pandemic. The uptick in suicidal ideation in many demographic groups is also worrisome.
Even before the pandemic, one in five Canadians experienced mental illness or a mental health issue in any given year and 1.6 million Canadians already had unmet mental health needs.
As Margaret Eaton, national chief executive officer of the CMHA, has said, investing in the mental health of Canadians “is the key to our collective recovery from COVID-19 and beyond.”
During the recent federal election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised that, if re-elected, a Liberal government would invest $4.5-billion over five years to improve access to mental health care. He later said an annual transfer of mental health funds would become a permanent fixture.
These are good, if modest, initiatives. But you don’t need a junior health minister just to deliver cheques.
Ms. Bennett has some real challenges ahead of her beyond urging the provinces to improve access to psychological services. Chief among them is tackling the ever-worsening overdose crisis. Over the years, the Liberals have talked a good game on harm reduction, but they have a maddening tendency to overpromise and underdeliver.
As the opioids crisis grew, the previous government invested in supervised injection sites, but did so overly cautiously. It also funded some innovative programs such as prescribed heroin, but never allowed them to expand.
Most recently, Liberal ministers have mused aloud about decriminalization. This is hardly a radical idea anymore; even police chiefs have come around to the view that criminalizing drug use does more harm than good.
If the Prime Minister is serious about tackling mental health and addiction, one of Ms. Bennett’s first acts has to be to decriminalize possession of small amounts of drugs, as Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart has requested.
The federal government also has to pursue policies that get toxic drugs off the street by giving drug users access to safe supply.
Frankly, these are measures that should have been taken before the election, and there is no longer an excuse for dithering.
Ms. Bennett has some interesting history. Back in 2003, in the midst of the SARS pandemic, she was appointed as the first federal minister of public health.
Under her watch, the Public Health Agency of Canada was created, and there were some important investments in public health. However, most of the initiatives fell well short of what was proposed by a blue-ribbon panel led by Dr. David Naylor, and over the years, interest faded and the cabinet position disappeared.
This time around, the new portfolio can’t just be a passing fancy, or a temporary postpandemic mop-up operation. Mental health, the long-time orphan of Medicare, has to become a priority.
Some will argue that leaving it to a junior cabinet minister relegates it to second-class status. But a dedicated minister is a good approach and Ms. Bennett is well-suited to the role.
Besides, the new Health Minister, Jean-Yves Duclos, clearly has other priorities. As a Quebec economist taking charge of the health portfolio, he is one of the most intriguing appointments in the new cabinet.
He also has a thankless task: Negotiating a new health accord (or more likely individual health accords) at a time when the provinces and the opposition parties are demanding big increases.
In 2021-22, Ottawa will transfer $43.1-billion to the provinces, and that will increase by 3 per cent annually. During the election campaign, the other parties promised to increase those transfers.
The provincial premiers, for their part, have demanded a whopping increase of $28.1-billion.
They are unlikely to get that kind of windfall but, if they play their cards right, they can get significant sums to tackle two of the country’s most pressing problems, the mental health of citizens and the overdose crisis.
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