The Progressive Conservatives say Ontario should not have to spend millions of dollars each year to send young people to the United States for treatment of mental health issues.
   
Deputy PC Leader Christine Elliott says Ontario doesn't have the capacity to treat all the youth who have mental health illnesses, so patients wait up to two years for care.
   
She says it's unconscionable that a parent of a suicidal ten year old would be told to wait that long to get their child treatment.
   
Elliott says the Ministry of Health pays up to $80,000 to send each mentally ill youth out of country for treatment, while the Ministry of Children's Services funds agencies here that provide care.
   
The Tories believe youth mental health services could be provided much closer to home, and at a lower cost, especially if the two ministries were merged.
   
Opposition Leader and Niagara West MPP Tim Hudak says it's time mental health came out of the shadows and is treated with the same importance as physical
health.