Bill 44 explained in plain English
Perinatal Mental Health Act, 2021
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 42nd Parliament, 2nd Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
The Perinatal Mental Health Act, 2021, proclaims a day for perinatal mental health awareness and mandates the Minister of Health to review services, create an action plan, and report on progress.
This bill, titled the Perinatal Mental Health Act, 2021, aims to raise awareness and improve care for perinatal mental health in Ontario. It proclaims the first Wednesday of May each year as Perinatal Mental Health Day. The bill also requires the Minister of Health to conduct a comprehensive review of perinatal mental health services, develop a Provincial Framework and Action Plan to address issues like postpartum depression, and report on the progress of this review to the Legislative Assembly. The Minister must also table and publish this plan, and ensure its implementation. Finally, the Minister is required to review and potentially amend the framework within five years of its publication.
- Proclaims the first Wednesday of May annually as Perinatal Mental Health Day.
- Requires the Minister of Health to begin a comprehensive review of perinatal mental health in Ontario within two months of the Act coming into force.
- Requires the Minister to report to the Legislative Assembly on the progress of the review at least every six months.
- Requires the Minister of Health to prepare a Provincial Framework and Action Plan to improve perinatal mental health, with a focus on postpartum depression, using the results of the review.
- Requires the Minister to table the Provincial Framework and Action Plan in the Legislative Assembly and publish it online.
- Requires the Minister to ensure the implementation of the Provincial Framework and Action Plan.
- Requires the Minister to review the Provincial Framework and Action Plan within five years of its publication and make necessary amendments.
- Requires the Minister to table any amended plan in the Legislative Assembly and publish it online.
- The Minister of Health
- The Legislative Assembly of Ontario
- Birthing parents in Ontario experiencing perinatal mental illness
- Health practitioners
- The general public (through increased awareness)
- The Minister of Health has an obligation to conduct a review of perinatal mental health.
- The Minister of Health has an obligation to prepare and implement a Provincial Framework and Action Plan.
- The Minister of Health has an obligation to report progress to the Legislative Assembly.
- The Minister of Health has an obligation to table and publish the Framework and Action Plan.
- The Minister of Health has an obligation to review and amend the Framework and Action Plan every five years.
- The Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
- The Minister of Health must begin the review within two months after the Act comes into force.
- The first progress report to the Assembly is due within six months after the Act comes into force.
- Subsequent progress reports are due at least every six months after the first report.
- The Minister must review the Provincial Framework and Action Plan within five years after it is published.
- The bill does not specify the exact content or specific measures that must be included in the Provincial Framework and Action Plan, beyond a focus on improving health care services relating to perinatal postpartum depression.
- The bill does not define what constitutes 'sufficient' progress in the review for reporting purposes.
- The bill does not specify the process or criteria for determining 'necessary' amendments to the Framework and Action Plan.
- The bill does not specify the timeline for tabling and publishing the amended Framework and Action Plan after the five-year review.
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textProcess Snapshot
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced