Blaine Higgs speaks with reporters on Aug. 17, 2020, after meeting with the lieutenant-governor and asking her to dissolve the legislature. (Photo: CPAC screengrab)
Progressive Conservative leader Blaine Higgs announced proposed expansions on mental health and addiction services at a campaign stop Tuesday morning.
The party leader cited a five-year Mental Health and Addiction Action Plan, which the PCs say they will implement if they secure a mandate in September.
“In a recent survey, over half of New Brunswickers said they are at high risk of mental health concerns due to COVID,” Higgs said. “Driven by isolation, financial stress, higher use of substances, and an increase in domestic and intimate partner violence.”
Higgs’ announcement centered on three areas: increasing the number of walk-in clinics for mental health care, expanding psychiatric resources, and improved education of mental health and addictions.
The PC plan is said to provide patients with clinical mental health care without needing to join a long waitlist.
When it comes to improving psychiatric access, the COVID-19 pandemic provided a blueprint to improve virtual health-care services.
“The government will develop a virtual network that leverages technology and incorporates video counselling for patients to cut down on long waitlists and the travel time it often takes to see specialists,” said Higgs.
Higgs promised he would not close any ERs in the province if re-elected, saying he heard constituents when they rejected his party’s previous attempt to cut overnight hours at six provincial hospitals.
The improved education element of the plan claims it will improve training and education for police going out on wellness checks.
Wellness checks have been a hot topic in the province after the deaths of Chantel Moore and Rodney Levi, two Indigenous people that were shot and killed by RCMP officers during wellness checks this summer.
“The idea of working with enforcement, and working with social workers will ensure the right people are available to be a part of the solution,” the party leader said.
The announcement was made at a stop in Oromocto Tuesday morning, the first full day of campaigning since the writ dropped.
