Katrine Desautels, The Canadian Press
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MONTREAL — Quebec solidaire (QS) spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois presented his party’s plan on Saturday to end mental health waiting lists. To achieve this, it provides for a historic investment of $280 million in mental health.
QS believes that massive investment is needed since the pandemic has had a devastating effect on the mental health of Quebecers. In the event of a united government, the party promises to hire 900 psychologists in the public network. His plan is to increase salaries by 30% in order to attract professionals to the public network.
“By enhancing their salary and enhancing their professional autonomy, we are betting that we are able to bring them back into the public network and therefore improve services to the population,” says Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois.
The party also pledges to hire 1,000 other mental health professionals, including social workers, psychoeducators and sexologists.
These would be deployed in the health and social services network and also in the school network. “We know that among young people right now, mental health problems are at an all-time high. It’s a generation that we have to take care of, it’s a priority for us,” said Mr. Nadeau-Dubois.
The latter states that Quebec is the province with the highest number of psychologists per capita. According to him, it is “completely unacceptable” that people have to wait up to two years to consult a psychologist. He believes that “mental health should be considered on an equal footing with physical health”.
“The waiting list exists because there are not enough people in the public system to provide care. If we make the public sector attractive and bring in psychologists, we will be able to overcome the waiting lists, ”assures the united spokesperson.
In addition, Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois denounces the plan of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ). “The CAQ’s current plan, which relies on the use of private resources, is a complete failure. The waiting lists, not only are they not decreasing, but they have lengthened in the last year”, mentions Mr. Nadeau-Dubois. He says 16,000 people were waiting to see a psychologist a year and a half ago, and the list now stands at 19,000.
This first electoral commitment in terms of health comes at the same time as QS presented its candidate, Dr. Mélissa Généreux, in the riding of Saint-François, in Estrie.
The specialist in epidemiology and environmental health conveyed the same message as Mr. Nadeau-Dubois; the pandemic has taken its toll on people’s mental health. She judges that with “the CAQ plan, we are heading towards a wall”.
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