The opposition is renewing criticism of the Ford government’s decision to close drug consumption sites.
Ministry of Health officials were before a legislative committee this week, following a report from the Auditor General.
Officials were questioned over the decision to close safe consumption sites that were in proximity to schools and childcare centres.
A site in Thunder Bay was among them.
The opposition says the Ministry knew the closures would lead to more overdoses and deaths, and happened without adequate study..
NDP member Robin Lennox says the government seems to be unbothered.
“People across this province are struggling with substance use and are still waiting desperately to survive long wait lists and navigate the gaps in services that this government has left,” says Lennox.
“The Minister of Health and the Conservative government have shepherded in a heartless Ontario, and our community members are suffering for it.”
The province had announced the consumption sites would transition into new recovery and treatment facilities.
Lennox says they also learned that none of the 27 sites announced by the government are fully operational.
She says the government has also started to defund other safe consumption sites not ordered to shut down.
“The Minister of Health and this Conservative government don’t want to face the challenge in front of them. And if we do not face it, we cannot fix it. They are choosing disregard over decisive action, ideology over evidence, and loss over life.”
