OTTAWA, ON — Today, Dr. Stephen Ellis, Member of Parliament for Cumberland-Colchester and Conservative Shadow Minister for Health, introduced Bill C-323, which removes the tax from mental health services.

In Canada today, counselling therapists and psychotherapists are the only regulated mental health service providers that must remit tax on their work. Conservatives tabled legislation to fix this imbalance by removing the GST/HST on counselling therapists and psychotherapists.

“After eight years of Trudeau’s Liberal government, life is becoming unbearable for Canadians. From the crushing effects of inflation and the out-of-control cost of living increases, Canadians are hurting. But instead of providing hope, the Liberal government is pushing Canadians struggling with mental health towards medically assisted death,” said MP Ellis.

According to Health Canada statistics, nearly one-quarter of Canadians over the age of fifteen self-report having unmet mental health needs. The services of a psychotherapist or a mental health counsellor are just as important to the health of Canadians and their families as those of a nurse or family doctor. Bill C-323 would remove the federal tax from those services to relieve some of the financial burden placed on them by the Liberal government.

“It makes no sense for psychotherapists and mental health counsellors to be subjected to this kind of taxation when physicians, psychiatrists, registered nurses, registered psychiatric nurses, psychologists, occupational therapists, and social workers are all exempt,” said MP Ellis.

“At a time when countless Canadians are struggling with the burden of mental illness, Conservatives are offering tangible solutions that will go a long way toward providing relief,” said MP Ellis. “The countless Canadians who are suffering from mental illness have been failed by this Liberal government.”