Opinion | This ‘government for the people’ is a farce – TheSpec.com

The mark of a good politician is their willingness to meet with diverse groups of constituents. This is even more important for cabinet ministers who should be listening to what those impacted by their portfolio have to say. From what I've seen of the current Ontario Conservative party, they do not care.

For the past few years, I have been asked to speak or participate in panels by the Richmond Hill group Home on the Hill. This is a grassroots group focused on developing supportive housing for people with serious mental illness. Their Robert Veltheer lecture series has included a long list of prominent experts including psychiatrist Dr. Nick Kates of McMaster, Hamilton psychiatrist Dr. David Laing Dawson, Dr. David Goldbloom of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and former Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, Dr. Christopher Bowie from Queen's University and Hamilton psychologist and former president of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada Lori Triano.

The Home on the Hill March 18 event was postponed because of the COVID-19 outbreak but it was to be a presentation on the Ontario Mental Health Act given by Dr. Thomas Ungar of St. Michael's Hospital with an introduction by me. Home on the Hill has been attempting to get the Ontario Minister of Health, Christine Elliott and the Associate Minister of Health for mental health, Michael Tibollo, to attend their lectures with no luck.

Over the years, the group has managed to gain the active support of a number of local politicians such as one of the Richmond Hill counsellors, Karen Cilevitz; the Liberal MP for the area, Majid Jowhari; and the former Liberal MPP, Reza Moridi. They all attended the funeral for Robert Veltheer in 2016 after his murder for which I blamed Ontario's flawed mental health system in the Huffington Post.

Home on the Hill's attempts to get Ontario's two cabinet ministers has failed. For the session on the mental health act, they did speak to the chief of staff for Minister Tibollo who suggested that their new staff resource, Gilbert Sharpe, might attend. Sharpe is the former Ontario Ministry of Health lawyer who wrote the current mental health act. Dr. Ungar suggested that it would be helpful if Mr. Sharpe described the act to the audience and then Dr. Ungar could outline the problems with the act faced by practitioners and the families.

That suggestion was passed on to Tibollo's office a few times but they did not even have the courtesy to respond.

Thinking back over the years, I recall that Tony Clement, when he was Minister of Health in Ontario during the Mike Harris days, attended the banquet put on during the Schizophrenia Society of Canada annual meeting when it was held in Toronto. I assume he did so to show the government's support for that organization and for their members. It was the Mike Harris government who brought in the only improvement ever made to the Mental Health Act. Brian's Law was implemented in order to enable doctors to use Community Treatment Orders for ill patients who might not comply with treatment when they should have.

Going back even further to the days when I worked in policy development for the Ontario government, I recall being assigned to attend a small conference at Glendon College in Toronto for people with cerebral palsy (CP). This was a very small group of people who suffered with CP and James Snow, a cabinet minister in what was the last days of the Bill Davis Conservative Dynasty, attended. He even attended the dinner that evening that consisted of one long table and maybe 20 or 25 people.

I very much doubt he was there for any other reason that to learn what he could of the problems this group faced in society and to offer his support. I gained a lot of respect for him that day and often think of him when I pass the exit to the James Snow Parkway off the 401.

The families of those who suffer from schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses are desperate to have their legitimate concerns heard and considered by the legislators. The failure of those in power to make any sort of attempt to show up, to listen and to lend support is despicable. Any changes they might make to the legislation and policies will be deficient because they refused to listen to those most impacted.

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Opinion | This 'government for the people' is a farce - TheSpec.com