Tuesday October 9th Dougald Lamont, Judy Klassen, Cindy Lamoureux and I teamed up to put pressure on the Pallister Conservatives to address the Methamphetamine Crisis in Manitoba. This include a Members Statement (by me), Questions by Dougald, Questions by me, and an Opposition Day Motion initiated by Dougald. Both of us spoke, along with Judy Klassen, MLA for Kewatinook, and Cindy Lamoureux, MLA for Burrows, during the debate. These are in sequence below.
In essence, as you will see in the statements below, we are calling on the government do declare a public health emergency, to appoint the Director of a Task Force to bring together actions in various departments to implement an effective approach to the meth epidemic which includes a province- wide awareness campaign, information about meth in the primary and secondary education curriculum, consistent emergency room protocols for handling individuals who have taken meth, access to detoxification, then for stabilization units followed by transitional housing with ongoing support. We are also calling for a coordinated approach with the Justice department to decrease meth related crime and vandalism As well as these measures we are calling for research to ensure we have up to date information on the meth situation, and are doing the action research necessary to provide optimum support for those with meth addictions and meth psychosis.
Of note the Premier's response on Tuesday was that we was not going to throw money at a problem he was not sure existed. However, by Thursday, he had changed his tune and was admitting that the meth crisis was a very serious situation.
In essence, as you will see in the statements below, we are calling on the government do declare a public health emergency, to appoint the Director of a Task Force to bring together actions in various departments to implement an effective approach to the meth epidemic which includes a province- wide awareness campaign, information about meth in the primary and secondary education curriculum, consistent emergency room protocols for handling individuals who have taken meth, access to detoxification, then for stabilization units followed by transitional housing with ongoing support. We are also calling for a coordinated approach with the Justice department to decrease meth related crime and vandalism As well as these measures we are calling for research to ensure we have up to date information on the meth situation, and are doing the action research necessary to provide optimum support for those with meth addictions and meth psychosis.
Of note the Premier's response on Tuesday was that we was not going to throw money at a problem he was not sure existed. However, by Thursday, he had changed his tune and was admitting that the meth crisis was a very serious situation.
Members Statement - Manitoba's Methamphetamine Crisis
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): The meth epidemic became a crisis in Manitoba in 2017.
In October of that year, crystal meth was reported to be absolutely rampant in Winnipeg. Possession charges for meth increased 890 per cent over what they'd been in 2012. Meth-related emergency room visits increased a staggering 1,700 per cent from 2013 to 2017. People were dying. In 2017, eight of Manitoba's 24 homicides were related to meth use and 35 Manitobans died from meth-related overdoses.
In October 2017, I asked in QP what the government was doing about the explosion in crystal meth use in Winnipeg, an explosion with devastating effects on young people and on families. The government gave no answer. In November 2017, I asked again and specifically called on the government to set up stabilization units to bridge between active substance use and rehab or treatment programs. This time the Premier (Mr. Pallister) acknowledged that crystal meth was a tremendous problem, but failed to mention any initiative his government was undertaking.
In January 2018, our Manitoba Liberal leader called on the government to fund drug stabilization units and also to fund transitional housing with mental health supports in-house and a plan to enable people in recovery to move into their own housing with less intensive support for up to two years. But the government didn't act.
In the months since, we've had many more Manitobans in difficulty and dying from meth use from Winnipeg to Brandon to St. Theresa Point. The crisis continues because this government has failed to act.
Mr. Dougald Lamont (Leader of the Second Opposition): For more than a year we've been hearing that Manitoba is in the midst of a meth epidemic worse than fentanyl and opioids. I've heard it personally all across this province, from Brandon to Thompson, from downtown Winnipeg to suburbs to fly-in reserves.
This government is receiving $40 million a year for the next 10 years from the federal government dedicated to public mental health and homecare and another $5 million especially to deal with opioids. Yet, in this year's budget this government spent $1 million less on mental health and addictions than the NDP did in 2014-15 four years ago, and they underspent funding to health authorities for community health services by $26.6 million.
There is a single principle in health care: do no harm.
How can the Premier justify cuts to mental health and addictions even as meth addictions are increasing exponentially?
Hon. Brian Pallister (Premier): Well, I encourage the new leader of the opposition to consider the reality. He is trying to pilot and trump up the contribution of Ottawa-east here in Ottawa-west territory, and he need not do that because the federal government is reducing its partnership share of health-care funding by over $1 billion over the next few years, and it's not a record he should brag about.
As well, Ottawa, in reducing its support does not recognize the real challenges faced by an aging population who need more health-care support, not less, in our province, but have, unfortunately, to carry the burden along with the rest of the citizens of our province of $1 billion of debt-service costs for the first time in our history, thanks to the NDP unsustainable practice of spending more and getting fewer results from it.
These are the realities we must face. We're dealing with limited resources and we're doing the absolute best we can with the resources entrusted to us by Manitobans. If he wants higher taxes, he should say so.
Madam Speaker: The honourable Leader of the Second Opposition, on a supplementary question.
Mr. Lamont: Madam Speaker, I've said before that I'm opposed to the new funding formula and I was opposed to it when the Premier voted for it in 2008.
The meth crisis is not a new issue. We recognize it's difficult, but it's getting worse because this government is doing virtually nothing to make it better. We know from police it's driving up violent crime like assault and murders. It's driving an increase in property crime. It's putting people in the health and justice systems at risk from assault from someone in meth psychosis. Nurses are getting concussed and guards are getting PTSD.
The quick ACCESS clinics are open two hours, five days a week in Winnipeg for a problem that is 24 hours a day, seven days a week and province‑wide. But these quick ACCESS clinics don't provide treatment. They provide referrals. To what, Madam Speaker? Another wait list? Private clinics may cost $18,000 for 10 days in detox and 30 days of residential recovery, and patients may need repeated treatments.
What is needed for meth is stabilization units and housing supports with mental health workers.
Will the Premier restore funding to mental health to create new treatment spaces, or will he continue to ignore this crisis?
Mr. Pallister: Well, we do have new treatment spaces, Madam Speaker. The member ignores the reality of the actions we've taken, conveniently so, but inconveniently fails to outline in detail the costing around his proposal. So I welcome him doing so. We're certainly open to ideas and suggestions. We've been listening to the experts. We commissioned the VIRGO report and have been acting on it. Our minister's taking this issue very seriously, and we will continue to act to do the best we can with a very dire situation.
Madam Speaker: The honourable Leader of the Second Opposition, on a final supplementary.
Mr. Lamont: I will note, Madam Speaker, that the VIRGO report had no mention of methamphetamines. It was determined that the government did not provide enough information to the author.
But we need to be clear: meth is a different type of drug than opioids or alcohol. There is no such thing as a safe injection site for meth, and treatment and recovery are different too. When we talk about harm reduction with meth, we are talking about–[interjection]
Madam Speaker: Order.
Mr. Lamont: –death reduction and disease reduction.
It's said that we should love the sinner but hate the sin. This is also true of addiction, that we need to separate the human being from their addiction. Addicts should be treated in hospitals and clinics, not jails and remand.
We know the need is increasing; we know the federal government is providing $400 million more over the next 10 years for mental health and homecare, and we know that this government is going to have a new revenue stream from cannabis sales: a 9 per cent mark up on wholesale, a 6 per cent fee on top of that, and on top of that, a federal excise tax from which the Province will get 75 per cent of the revenue.
Will this government commit today to applying cannabis revenues to prevention and to creating new spaces for addictions treatment and recovery?
Mr. Pallister: Quick to spend, Madam Speaker, over there, and ready to throw money at a problem that we're not sure we have. The member has failed to reveal any analysis that he has done. We have certainly done a lot, here, to determine that we don't expect a net. There's a difference between gross revenue and net, and I'll get the member to look that up.
The fact is that we aren't going to be expecting any major revenue flows to solve all the problems the member has begun to list and will, I'm sure, continue to list as the days go on. And so, Madam Speaker, the member has suggested that the NDP are wrong in their assertion about the injection sites. He might like to have that debate with them. I'd suggest he's wrong in asserting that we can spend money that we do not have.
Question Period - Methamphetamine Crisis - Public Health Emergency
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, for over a year the government has known that there is a meth epidemic and that this represents a crisis for our province. It has affected the lives of individuals and families, increasing crime and even increasing deaths from homicide and from overdoses, and yet the provincial government has done little and the epidemic and crisis continues.
Will the government finally declare a public health emergency to address this crisis?
Hon. Cameron Friesen (Minister of Health, Seniors and Active Living): Madam Speaker, that member should know that when this government opened the recent rapid access addictions medicine clinic at HSC and then opened two more in close succession, that doctors were saying that this was an important step forward in collapsing the wait time for individuals to receive the treatment that they so desperately need. In Ontario, that meant a 63 per cent reduction in ER visits from those who are addictions affected.
Is that what the member means when he says the government has done nothing?
Madam Speaker: The honourable member for River Heights, on a supplementary question.
Need for Task Force Director
Mr. Gerrard: Madam Speaker, I ask the minister: show us the evidence he's got a 63 per cent reduction.
In fact, the evidence suggests that the use of emergency rooms is increasing, not decreasing.
The actions of the provincial government have done little and they've been poorly co-ordinated. Instead of stalling and stalling, and waiting and waffling, and waffling and waiting, this government needs to act. Indeed, we need a task force with a director who is empowered to second critical people from varied departments and is empowered to take rapid action–[interjection]
Madam Speaker: Order.
Mr. Gerrard: –to bring all of government together and implement the steps needed to address the current meth epidemic and crisis.
Will the government appoint such a director within the next week?
Mr. Friesen: Well, Madam Speaker, the member sets the bar quite low and then he fails to get over it. He is wrong again.
ER wait times are down, not up. They are down 8.5 per cent, year over year. But they are down 25 per cent over the past four years.
Madam Speaker, we know that we've received the VIRGO report and the important work of Dr. Rush, but that is based on the voices of thousands of Manitobans: families, health-care providers, community leaders from every region of our province. We are rolling out successively more and more solutions. These things are going to take time. They're going to take collaboration. We would ask for his collaboration rather than his finger pointing.
Madam Speaker: The honourable member for River Heights, on a final supplementary.
Mr. Gerrard: We make suggestions, but this government doesn't listen.
To address the meth crisis the government needs a director to act to co-ordinate the provincial emergency-room protocols, to put in place detox and stabilization units, to ensure supported, transitional housing is present, to co-ordinate with Justice to reduce crime, to ensure K-to-12 curriculums include critical information on meth, and to co-ordinate a province-wide awareness campaign.
Will the Premier (Mr. Pallister) appoint such a director to implement rapid action to co-ordinate and address the meth crisis in our province?
Mr. Friesen: I think, essentially, the question that the member is asking is, is–something that has the significant attention of government. I can assure him and all the members of the House that we and–do–we do, indeed, remain focused on this. We are all alarmed by the increase of methamphetamines and addiction and psychosis in our communities. We are working. We know this will require collaboration. Ministers and members on this side of the House are collaborating.
We are listening to Manitobans on this, but let's remember that that same VIRGO report talks about how poorly aligned, after years and years, that our mental health and addiction system actually was. We've got a lot of work to do, and we are getting to that work.
Opposition Day Motion The Meth Crisis
Madam Speaker: The House will now consider the opposition day motion of the honourable Leader of the Second Opposition.
I will now recognize the honourable Leader of the Second Opposition.
Mr. Dougald Lamont (Leader of the Second Opposition): I move, seconded by the MLA for River Heights, that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba condemn the provincial government for its inaction during the methamphetamine crisis in Manitoba.
Madam Speaker: It has been moved by the honorary Leader of the Second Opposition, seconded by the honourable–honourable Leader of the Second Opposition, seconded by the honourable member for River Heights (Mr. Gerrard), that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba condemn the provincial government for its inaction during the methamphetamine crisis in Manitoba.
Mr. Lamont: I've had the chance to travel across Manitoba and we've heard about problems with meth everywhere. It's a problem I've been hearing about for nearly a full year that I've been leader. We heard about it from the mother of an addict in Brandon. Her son was on the Brandon University basketball team. She told us her job is keeping her son alive.
The treatment facilities in Brandon are full with people from the surrounding areas, so people are being sent to Winnipeg. The facilities in Winnipeg are full, so they're being sent to Alberta. We heard it out of the Main Street Project, we heard it from St. Boniface Street Links, we've heard it in northern Manitoba, and on isolated reserves.
Earlier this spring, I had an–the opportunity to meet with a group of people led by Maureen Wood who walked from Island Lake to Winnipeg, who then further walked to Ottawa to meet with the Prime Minister.
We're hearing it from homelessness advocates and health professionals who say they are seeing people from all walks of life who has lost everything because they used this drug. There are people who had jobs, homes and families, and have lost it all.
This government needs to step up. We know we don't need more consultants to tell us there's a crisis; that's obvious enough. But one of the challenges is that the mental health and addictions report that was created–that was prepared for this government, the VIRGO report had virtually no mention of methamphetamines, even though it is the most serious drug crisis facing Manitoba.
We need addictions treatment now. The police know it. The doctors know it. And, on too many issues, this government has shirked its responsibilities and acted like it's someone else's problem to solve.
On the issue of quick-access sites, we have a situation where quick-access sites are open only 10 hours a day–
An Honourable Member: Week.
Mr. Lamont: At–sorry, 10 hours a week, at three–at five different days, Monday to Friday. It means that thousands of people will not have access to these sites because, as I've been told more than once by addiction specialists, when it comes time for someone who is suffering from an addiction to choose to go into detox and choose to go into recovery, there's often an extremely short window for that to happen. As a result, at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, they may not be interested; at 2 in the afternoon, they have–may change their mind. But, if they can't be entered into a detox program by 3 or 4 in the afternoon, the opportunity is lost again. This is one the reasons why unfortunately the–however well intentioned, the quick access clinics are really a band-aid on a band-aid.
What is required is substantive addictions treatment facilities, including detox and recovery, especially for methamphetamines. And this is one the challenges with meth; it is not a drug like other kinds of drugs. I referred to this in my questions earlier today when I talked about safe injection sites. We've done–we've looked into it; safe injection sites or medically supervised drug-use sites can be extremely effective for certain types of drugs, opiates especially. The same can also be true of alcohol. But it doesn't appear that there is such thing as a safe medically supervised–safe, medically supervised consumption site for methamphetamine, especially because methamphetamine, when taken, tends to leave people intoxicated for 12 to 14 hours, and they can even be–in–can be in meth psychosis.
We know there are huge costs associated with ignoring this problem. We have people who are being treated in jails and in remand for this, instead of in the health-care system where they belong. But there are examples of people–well, last year, of–a young woman froze to death; another case is of meth addicts who are losing parts of their–losing limbs because they cannot feel their extremities in the severe cold of Winnipeg winters, and their arms or feet–or hands or feet are freezing solid and they're losing limbs. The fact is we do have the resources to do–to deal with this.
Despite the claims that the federal government has been cutting, the federal government is actually up–is increasing the amount of funding for health care to Manitoba. Transfer payments are at record‑high levels and what's more, there's specific funding at $40 million a year over 10 years to deal specifically with mental health and home care. The fact is that funding just isn't where–isn't getting where it's supposed to.
So we've made a whole series of recommendations. We've been making the same recommendations for months, and they have to deal specifically with what–with dealing with meth and the unique nature of meth as a dangerous drug which is especially hard to deal with because there is no–there are no equivalents to–like methadone or naloxone in order to be able to save people from meth. The only thing we can have is drug stabilization units, and, given the fact that there are additional revenues coming into this–coming into the province, there's no excuse for them not to be proceeding with them.
Finally, as my colleague the MLA for River Heights has said, we're calling on the Province to set up a task force that would actually–which would be led by a doctor and would be able to reach across into different departments and across different governmental silos and actually be able to take action on this so that there is a united front and a plan to be able to deal with this crisis which just isn't happening right now. The challenge is, again, this government has dismantled the–its intergovernmental–or interdepartmental affairs so that we have a whole series of departments all wandering off on their own unable to co-ordinate.
This is a–there are lots of issues that are of great importance in this House, Madam Speaker. This is an issue of life and death for many people, and for many people, it's not just breaking the addict; it's also breaking their families because their families simply cannot afford to care for their loved ones who are struggling with an addiction.
So I would–this is–I urge the members of this House to not just to condemn the government for its inaction on meth, but to spur them on to action and have them take meaningful action, because the fact is the resources are there. The will–what seems to be lacking is the political will.
Thank you.
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): I'd like to start by thanking all the members who've participated in this debate, because I think, hopefully, out of this exchange and the back and forth, we can have a better understanding of what's happening with the meth epidemic and how we can better approach it.
What we're seeing from the government side is, at best, kind of a fragmented, bits and pieces here and there. And what we're calling for is a more holistic, comprehensive approach and for rapid action instead of delays that we've seen.
Meth affects all communities. We've heard the Minister of Health talk about his community; we've heard the member for Minto (Mr. Swan) talk about his community. There are no communities in Manitoba who are escaping it and the impact. And the impact in some communities is at the individual level. In some communities, it's at the level of the family and community–the safety of being able to play outside, how, you know, there is little that's less important–or little that's more important, I should say, than for kids to be able to play and be comfortable playing outside, particularly in our summer when it is all too short.
It is important, and I'm glad to see that the Health Minister has recognized the critical need here and that the Minister responsible for Justice has talked about the pressing situation. It is a little bit distressing that we find that the Minister for Health is not getting as much collaboration and co-operation from his own Premier (Mr. Pallister) as we might hope. Indeed, I understand that in the scrum the Premier has said, just a few minutes ago, that he's not ready to throw money at a problem we're not sure we have. This is a rather extraordinary situation, and, you know, one wants to reflect about, you know, people living in mansions or Costa Rica, but I think, quite frankly, that the important thing here that we do need to have a consensus that this is a vital and urgent issue–indeed, an emergency, a public health emergency.
This has been clear for at least a year at this point. A year ago we had reports of the rampant use of meth. A year ago, we had reports and statistics showing the very high 'skyroddeking' number of issues related to meth, visits to emergency rooms, pressing of charges against people with meth and so on. The deaths of people in overdoses–one thing after another was piling up, and it was very apparent a year ago that we had a crisis. This government, in spite of the fact that we've provided advice and information at various steps along the way, has done all too little, has had a fragmented approach and has not responded with the urgency and the rapidity that this situation requires.
It is also important–the Health Minister talked about the impossibility of getting people off meth in 28 days. Well, the Health Minister needs to visit with Marion Willis at Morberg House because she has a rather extraordinary story. She has taken many people off the streets at straight–St. Boniface Street Links and provided the temporary housing at Morberg House in a family atmosphere where people are well supported. And in this kind of an atmosphere, the striking thing, and the striking thing that she's found, is that almost everyone that she deals with who has a meth addiction and often has a mental health problem at the same time is able to be off meth within a month.
And we have a remarkable story here in our province of success that the Health Minister has not listened to and the former Health minister didn't listen to. In fact, the sad thing is that the former Health minister attempted to shoot the messenger in Marion Willis and decreased funding for her program and, when, in fact, she was ready to help and work collaboratively, but the former Health minister was not ready to work collaboratively. And we hope that the present Health Minister is as good as his word and is ready to work collaboratively with people like Marion Willis who have a lot of expertise, which is hard won.
Why do we need this overall approach? We need, clearly, a director who can manage the government effort across many departments. It can be done without huge costs because the director can second people from–should be able to second people from different departments. For instance, we need to make sure that every emergency room in the province has the most current possible protocol for looking after people who have meth. This could be developed by a physician seconded, knowledgeable, for those assessing and treating people in the emergency room.
We need primary detox centres where–which need to be established as fast as possible, including but not limited to what's happening at the Main Street Project.
We need drug stabilization centres because once people go through detox, you can't just send them out to into the street or back into the community. That doesn't work. You need to make sure that their hands are held, as it were, as they go through a drug stabilization process and then, following that, into transitional housing options.
And these need to be here and identified, and it's the sort of thing that–Marion Willis at Morberg House has been very efficient at working with people who–taking them through the process of getting off meth and then getting into supported housing where they're stabilized and transitioned and then can get back into the community.
We need a co-ordinated effort on education with individuals, for example, seconded from the Department of Education to make sure that our primary and second education–secondary education has the up-to-dated curriculum for enabling all our young people to know about the meth 'edipidemic', why they should avoid meth, and make sure that this information is there for people.
We need a province-wide public awareness campaign. Interestingly, when the Leader of the Liberal Party and I were in St. Theresa Point, we saw very effective messages being produced by students in St. Theresa Point. It was really amazing to see. If I had more time, I would read some of them.
If the students in St. Theresa Point can do such a good job of putting forward messaging and getting them around the community, it is really disappointing that the government, provincially, can do such a poor job of get these messages around the community and not even having up-to-date information on websites.
The meth epidemic is a major reason for the increase in crime. We have a huge spike in vandalism in River Heights which–being attributed to the use of meth. We need to make sure that, as part of this, the director of a task force is able to work closely with people in justice area and be much more effective than we've been so far in preventing vandalism crime.
We need to be able to identify the precursors to taking meth. Poverty appears to be one of these, but there are a variety of others, and it is important that we can not only identify those, but we can develop and implement a really good approach to preventing meth use and meth addiction. We need, in this context, a thorough and good comprehensive research program. We need to have the funding allocated strategically and effectively.
All these things can be done, but, Mr. Speaker, they are not being done now. They need to be done. This government needs to get to work. Call that public health emergency on the meth crisis. Set–put in place, quickly, a director and a task force to make sure that we have a rapid response. We're not getting it. We need it. We ask the government to act quickly.
Ms. Judy Klassen (Kewatinook): In early February of this year, Garden Hillers, there were over a hundred young men who held a walk, and I quote: Their walk was entitled Fuck Meth. And I apologize for the unparliamentary language right away, but it only speaks to the frustration that we're feeling in the North.
Then again, at the end of March, Maureen A. Wood led a walk from my First Nation to Ottawa, a distance of 3,300 kilometres over the winter road, 24-7 at the beginning in -40 degree weather. They slept in the backs of flatbeds on trucks just to make it through the night.
In May 2018, they made it to Ottawa. They were out, and we got a meeting with the federal Manitoba caucus, which was very productive where we submitted our proposal for a treatment centre for the Island Lake area. We reiterated our ask for dogs at airports–drug-sniffing dogs at airports because at least this would curb the influx of contraband into remote First Nation communities which would go a long way because it's devastating. It's had a devastating effect on our people.
After we met with the Manitoba caucus, we then met with Trudeau. We need our detox facilities. They're needed everywhere here in Manitoba. Garden Hill First Nation just buried seven people–Garden Hill First Nation just buried seven people. Over half were meth-related. I don't know about anybody else in this Chamber, that's personal for me, and it would be whether I was a legislator or not. We're the ones that are continuing–trying to continue our daily lives without our loved ones. We need education in our schools. We need to create that awareness of the danger of that drug.
But I would like to close on a positive note. My friend's child–who is also one of my daughter's best friends–as a youth tried the drug and she became a user, but thanks to that walk, thanks to those 54 people who took part, took time out of their lives, put their jobs on hold, she knew they were praying for them. She knew there was a lot of people rooting for her in her corner, and even though today she is tempted daily, she still needs those resources in place because she is trying to stay clean, and she is struggling with that.
So I implore this government to create a strategy for all of Manitobans, not just our urban people, but our northern, because if you think it's bad down here, go up North and see how it's tearing our people apart.
Megwetch, Madam Speaker.
Ms. Cindy Lamoureux (Burrows): Madam Speaker, I just wanted to put a few words on the record pertaining the motion brought forward from the member from St. Boniface that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba take action to address the 'methphetamine' crisis in Manitoba.
We've all witnessed this crisis grow over the past couple years, and, unfortunately, this government has not been putting in the effort to manage it. Madam Speaker, we need this government to understand the urgency of the meth crisis, and I believe that's what those of us on this side of the House are attempting to do here right now.
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was door knocking in the North End, and constituents were bringing up the issue of meth on the streets. People were expressing how they're scared to open up their doors at night; they're scared this drug is going to be mixed in with something and their children are going to consume it. And they're scared and rightfully upset that this epidemic is only going to continue to get worse because there is no plan being shared with us.
My constituents are tired of walking through the community and seeing needles on the street. I personally have found needles right outside my own office. And we know that this is a universal issue. It goes beyond Winnipeg, beyond Manitoba, beyond Canada. And members on this side of the House are recognizing that; we just need this government to also recognize that.
Madam Speaker, our current Health Minister himself said that he's not comfortable at all with how meth is being handled within this country, even by his own government. So let's start being proactive. Let's talk about detox centres–I know the NorWest Co-op has been really adamant on this idea–or spaces being made available in addiction facilities.
The leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party mentioned this earlier: when a person is ready to admit themselves into an addictions facility–perhaps they're coherent or they had something–someone encouraging them to do this, whatever the reason may be–the facility should have the resources to be prepared to accept this person, and this government needs to start providing these resources and creating opportunities.
Madam Speaker, these are just a couple of ideas, and I hope the government begins this new dialogue rather than continues to ignore the crisis. I hope to see this motion passed. Thank you.
Comments
Post a Comment