Yesterday, I had the honour of representing @ChildHealthCan members at a federal pre-budget consultation hosted by @MonaFortier and @PattyHajdu. COVID19 has taken an unthinkable toll on Canada's children. /1

The federal government has an important role to play throughout COVID recovery for Canada's 8M children and youth, and their families. @ChildHealthCan tabled three priorities requiring federal leadership: /2

(1) Urgently build systems capacity to address the emerging crisis in child and youth mental health. Wait lists for children's mental health services pre-pandemic in some jurisdictions were >2y. Looking ahead, these unfathomable wait times will grow. Every day waiting matters. /3

(2) A safe and effective COVID vaccine for children. To date, there are no clinical trials underway in Canada to test a COVID vaccine for kids. Children’s Hospitals have well est'd clinical trials networks and are well positioned to support these efforts with federal $. /4

(3) A robust research agenda to better understand S/M/LT impacts of COVID19 on children, youth + their families, including a refresh of the @StatCan_eng Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth. Better research leads to stronger policy solutions and better health outcomes. /5

Are you passionate about the health and wellbeing of Canada's children? Help us to amplify these priorities so no child, youth or family is left behind.

@BrucePSquires @Hanigsberg @MFullertonACH @care06 @ronald_cohn @AlexMunter @edb1001 @CanPaedSociety @OneYouthCanada @DrCChambers @micyrn @CIHR_IHDCYH @KatharineSmart @RaeofSunshine79 @PedChairsCan @PedsChairYYC @bob_connelly @andrewlynk @DrJFriedman @Stelios_ASD @KathyReid5