The OAMHP is proud to support Bill C-218 and the campaign to remove tax from Psychotherapy services. Counselling therapists and psychotherapists are the only mental health professionals that have to charge GST/HST on their services.
Our association is part of a national campaign to encourage the federal government to remove this unfair tax.
On September 20, 2022 the campaign was officially launched with a press conference in the House of Commons Press Gallery which you can watch here.
Representatives from mental health and counselling organizations called on the federal government to remove the HST/GST requirement for therapists and psychotherapists in Canada. They were joined by NDP MP Lindsay Mathyssen, whose private member’s bill, C-218, would make therapy services tax-free.
Members were asked to visit www.taxfreetherapy.ca to learn about the campaign and to lend their support. While the petition garnered 10,000 signatures, advocacy to remove the HST continues.
Further updates
March 2023
The March 2023 FINA Report from the Standing Committee on Finance, Chaired by Liberal MP Peter Fonseca, recommended that the Minister of Finance: "Exempt counselling therapy and psychotherapy from the application of GST/HST."
More information available at: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/FINA/report-10/page-18
On March 9th, 2023, Conservative MP Stephen Ellis, from Nova Scotia, introduced a private members bill to amend the Excise Tax Act to remove GST/HST from psychotherapy and counselling therapy.
“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.”
Read more here: https://www.conservative.ca/conservatives-introduce-bill-to-relieve-canadians-of-financial-burden-when-accessing-mental-health-services/
Click here to watch MP Ellis read his bill in the House of Commons.