The Implementation Plan for changes to Manitoba's mental health and addictions approach, including prevention, is delayed until the fall of 2018

Thursday June 21, I asked the Minister of Health in the Manitoba Legislature about his approach to prevention of mental health and addictions issues. In his response, the Minister said any progress will have to wait for his implementation plan in the fall. This is very disappointing given that the Pallister government was elected in the spring of 2016, and this will be two and a half years after the election before there is even a plan to move forward. The exchange, from Hansard, is below:

Mr. Gerrard: There are many other areas of health care where prevention is important. One of those is in terms of mental health and addictions. And so I would ask the minister what his plans are with regard to prevention of mental health and addictions.

Mr. Goertzen: So we spoke a little bit about this a little earlier this afternoon. No question, the co‑ordination between mental health and addictions is a priority of the government. He's seen that with the release of the VIRGO report, which indicated that for many years, decades, that there's been poor co-ordination between the mental health and addictions system in Manitoba. And so I think if he's looking for our plans when it comes to those two areas, he could certainly look at the VIRGO report for guidance. We expect an implementation plan to be provided by the department in fall of this year.

Mr. Gerrard: I'm, I must say, still a little bit disappointed that the implementation plan will not come before fall of this year. That's going to be a full two and a half years after the minister became Health Minister, and progress has been taking a long time, and one would've hoped for more quicker action on something that's as important as that.

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Dougald Lamont speaks at Meth Forum last night to present positive ideas to address the epidemic, while exposing the lack of action by the Pallister Conservatives

Last night at the Notre Dame Recreation Centre in St. Boniface, at an Election Forum on the Meth Crisis in Manitoba, Dougald Lamont spoke eloquently about the severity of the meth epidemic and described the Liberal plan to address it. The Liberal Plan will make sure that there is a single province-wide phone number for people, or friends of people, who need help dealing with meth to call (as there is in Alberta) and that there will be rapid access to a seamless series of steps - stabilization, detoxification, treatment, extended supportive housing etc so that people with meth addiction can be helped well and effectively and so that they can rebuild their lives. The Liberal meth plan will be helped by our approach to mental health (putting psychological therapies under medicare), and to poverty (providing better support). It will also be helped by our vigorous efforts to help young people understand the problems with meth in our education system and to provide alternative positive

Comparison between Manitoba and South Dakota shows dramatic impact of Physical Distancing

Manitoba implemented physical distancing measures in mid-March. South Dakota has still not made physical distancing mandatory. The result is a dramatic difference in the incidence of covid-19 viral infections between the two jurisdictions. This graph shows the number of people with Covid-19 infections from March 27 to April 14. Manitoba ( red line ) started leveling off about April 4 and has seen only a small increase in Covid-19 infections since then. South Dakota ( blue line ) has seen a dramatic increase in Covid-19 infections since April 4. Those who are skeptical of the impact of physical distancing in Manitoba should look at this graph! Data are from the Johns Hopkins daily tabulations

Pushing for safe consumption sites and safe supply to reduce overdose deaths

On Monday June 20th, Thomas Linner of the Manitoba Health Coalition, Arlene Last-Kolb Regional Director of Moms Stop the Harm and Winnipeg City Councillor Sherri Rollins were at the Manitoba Legislature to advocate for better measures to reduce deaths from drug overdoses, most particularly for safe consumption sites and for a safe supply, measures which can reduce overdose deaths.

The Gerrard Report

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