Gélinas: Closing Consumption and Treatment Sites means more costs for cities

QUEEN’S PARK — This morning during question period MPP France Gélinas, Ontario NDP health critic, asked the Minister of Health why her Ministry is downloading her responsibilities to the municipalities.

“A person dies every 2.5 hours from the toxic drug supply in Ontario. Consumption and treatment sites (CTS) have been instrumental in preventing thousand more deaths. Without CTS you can expect more calls to First Responders, which means limited availability for other emergencies. You can expect busier Emergency Departments where people already wait way too long. Why is the Minister putting more strain on our First Responders and Emergency Departments?”

The Ford government’s Bill 223 introduced yesterday effectively ends any supervised consumption sites in Ontario. The CBC quoted the Minister of Health as stating: “there will be no further safe injection sites in the province of Ontario under our government.”

“If this government could stop downloading its responsibilities onto municipalities we would have cleaner, healthier communities across this province, but yesterday that member voted against Leader Marit Stiles' motion to do just that. The Minister is closing consumption and treatments sites and leaving a long gap before any other service becomes available. Why is the minister downloading her responsibilities onto our municipal partners?”

The government has said it will fund 10 HART hubs before the end of 2025 with no set date for when services will become available; the existing CTS will close on March 31, 2025.

Video HERE