Mental health merits funding commitment

Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown has taken a bold step by pledging the “largest mental health commitment in Canadian provincial history” as one of the five core promises of his People’s Guarantee.

In an interview with the Toronto Sun on Monday, Brown said: “Mental health’s not a left-right issue, but it’s a dirty little secret in Ontario that we’ve abandoned people who have the courage to confront a mental health challenge.”

He’s right. Ontario governments of all stripes have for five decades “deinstitutionalized” the mentally ill without providing the community support they need.

We see the human toll every day in the struggles of the homeless on our streets and in the fatal shootings of the mentally ill by police.

As retired Supreme Court judge Frank Iacobucci concluded in his review of Toronto police use of force guidelines in 2014: “The effective functioning of the mental health system is essential as a means of preventing people from finding themselves in crisis in the first place.

“There will not be great improvements in police encounters with people in crisis, without the participation of . . . municipal, provincial and federal governments because . . . they are part of the problem and need to be involved in the solution.”

Bell Media deserves credit for its annual Let’s Talk campaign to raise awareness about mental illness.

But when people do ask for help, there is typically none available for a year due to shortages of psychiatrists and other mental health professionals, and the costs of treatment can be prohibitive.

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s government spent $3.7 billion on mental health programs in 2015-16 and recently announced $72.6 million over three years to support psychotherapy programs.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has proposed a stand-alone government ministry for mental health care and addiction.

All parties created today’s crisis over many decades.

All must help solve it and the solutions will not come overnight or easily, no matter who wins the next Ontario election.

We will need to see the specifics of Brown’s $1.9-billion commitment to improve mental health care over 10 years.

It is one thing to promise, another to deliver.

But by making the funding a core promise of his platform, Brown has given this issue the attention it deserves.