A provincial health minister announces a new mental health funding allocation, the numbers impressive in press releases, the reality less so when distributed across a population in need. A community mental health center closes its evening program for lack of funding, the clients who depended on it left without service. A hospital maintains a psychiatric unit at minimal capacity, beds closed because staff cannot be hired at salaries the budget allows. A researcher calculates what adequate mental health funding would look like and arrives at numbers no government has committed to providing.