The Ontario Greens have included dedicated commitments for mental health and addictions care in their new platform, Our Plan for Fairness, ahead of the 2025 provincial election.
The plan includes the promise to bring wages up to par with other providers in health care to ensure retention and recruitment of workers in the community mental health sector. Analysis shows workers in the community health sector are underpaid by as much as 30 per cent compared to peers in hospital or education.
Other objectives in the plan include:
- Cover mental health and addiction care for all under OHIP
- Increase base funding for community mental health services
- Integrate mental health and addictions services into expanded Family Health Teams and walk-in clinics to improve early intervention
- Improve access to care by providing virtual care options in rural and remote regions
- Implement a wait time reduction strategy for mental health services that sets targets, tracks wait times and makes the information publicly available
- Immediately make the investments in frontline mental health to reduce wait times to 30 days or less for children and youth
- Invest in emergency mental health supports including crisis centres and outreach workers, and have social workers in emergency rooms during peak hours to divert clients with mental health and addictions needs
- Increase investment in Youth Wellness Hubs provincewide as a one-stop shop for employment, health, addiction, education, recreation and housing support
- Ensure adequate mental health supports are available for first responders
Read the complete plan at gpo.ca/platform.