The 2022 Ontario election is on Thursday, June 2. (image courtesy Elections Ontario)
2022 Ontario election special coverage presented by Pete’s Auto Body
To help you understand how the candidates on the ballot in Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound in the 2022 Ontario election feel about some key issues, Bayshore Broadcasting News provided several questions to the nine candidates running in the riding.
Housing affordability, inflation, climate change and labour shortages in key industries, were among the issues the candidates shared their thoughts on.
Independent candidate Reima Kaikkonen did not provide responses prior to the deadline for publication.
In the lead up to Thursday’s vote, candidate answers will be featured on bayshorebroadcasting.ca.
Some of these issues, and others, were addressed during the Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound All Candidates Discussion on 560 CFOS Monday morning as well. You can listen to the podcast here.
Below, you can view the candidate responses provided to a question about opioid harms. Candidate responses to questions about housing affordability, inflation, labour shortages in key industries and climate change also be viewed in separate posts.
Question: Public Health Ontario says there has been a steady increase in opioid-related harms in Ontario for more than a decade; more than 2,400 Ontarians died from opioid-related causes in 2020. What, if anything, would you do to address the opioid epidemic?
Answers:
Rick Byers, Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario
The opioid crisis is an urgent health crisis that requires a compassionate and coordinated response.
The PC Government implemented a mental health and addictions strategy, Roadmap to Wellness, and also made significant new investments in the province’s addictions treatment system. This includes a range of community-based services available to Ontarians who need help for substance use, including people who use opioids.
Here in Grey Bruce, Bill Walker and the PC Government recently announced an investment of $6 million through the new Addictions Recovery Fund to immediately enhance access to addictions treatment supports in Owen Sound.
This funding will be provided to Grey Bruce Health Services and will provide access to 14 addiction treatment beds, 12 withdrawal management beds and 10 supportive treatment beds. Gary Sims, CEO of GHHS noted “It will be the largest expansion of mental health services that we’ve had in this region for decades.”
This a very important step in enhancing much needed care in our region.
Karen Gventer, New Democratic Party of Ontario
The opioid crisis is a public health emergency. We must (and would) immediately invest in addiction rehabilitation, detox centres, and harm reduction strategies. We would remove the cap Doug Ford placed on supervised consumption sites, expedite approvals for supervised consumption sites in the north, and work to ensure safer alternatives to the current toxic and deadly supply of drugs available on the street. We would also work with the federal government to reduce the stigma of drug addiction. Decriminalization of personal drug use is vital so that people can access the medical help they need. Chiefs of Police have also joined the call for stronger action, including decriminalization.
Addictions are closely tied to mental health challenges. We will ensure mental health is covered by OHIP. That it is not leaves me incredulous!
In addition, the NDP would create Mental Health Ontario, a new coordinating organization that would take the lead on identification and public reporting of mental health needs, develop a comprehensive wait list for services, bring in province-wide mental health standards, create a network of services, and make sure that mental health and addiction programs are delivered comprehensively across Ontario.
Selwyn Hicks, Ontario Liberal Party
Liberals want to build a compassionate, nonjudgmental and supportive Ontario that aims to help those with addictions by following evidence-based strategies to reduce harm. We’ll do so by investing $300 million across the addictions sector to prevent, intervene and treat opioid addiction and overdoses – including providing an ample supply of naloxone kits, fentanyl testing strips and harm reduction supplies at pharmacies, community spaces and with first responders.
Ontario Liberals will:
-Ensure mental health professionals are available in a crisis in hospital emergency rooms and to respond to low-risk emergency calls – diverting people with addictions and disabilities away from the justice system and into care.
-As part of our housing plan, build 15,000 new supportive homes over the next ten years, providing safe environments and access to counselling for those struggling with mental health and addictions.
-Train 3,000 new mental health and addiction professionals and hire 1,000 mental health professionals specifically for children.
-Require private employer benefits include mental health services.
-Target organized crime groups and deceptive opioid manufacturers.
Danielle Valiquette, Green Party of Ontario
The Greens have repeatedly called on the Ontario government to declare the opioid and drug poisoning crisis a Public Health Emergency. In Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound last year, fatal overdoses spiked to 24 (up from 16 in 2019, seven in 2018, and 11 in 2017) while the number of opioid-related emergency department visits quadrupled between 2003 and 2018.
The Greens will decriminalize drug use and shift funding from the justice system to health care. We will establish a three digit, 24/7 province-wide mental health crisis response line, and create mental health-focused crisis response teams to respond to drug poisonings. Additionally, we will increase the number of provincially-funded treatment beds; increase the number of consumption and treatment sites and expand the availability of harm reduction programs, including safe supply.
All of these measures will help treat the symptoms of drug use in our community. But to really solve this problem, we need to go to the source. We need to provide support for people. Our plan is to take a Housing First approach and build 60,000 permanent supportive housing homes with wrap around mental health services.
Suzanne Coles, Ontario Party
Drug addiction most commonly occurs due to mental health issues, when left untreated addiction can spiral out of control.
According to the CDC, There has been an 84% rise in opioid deaths. These have occurred as a direct result from the government’s pandemic response.
The Ontario Party will:
Immediately end any remaining restrictions on personal autonomy and liberty that have been instituted by the Ford government in the name of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pass legislation that virtually outlaws the provincial government’s ability to impose lockdowns, restrictions, and mandates like those of the last two years by establishing clear and onerously high criteria that must be met before any measures overriding citizens’ Charter rights can be enacted.
I will:
Put forward a private Member’s Bill to have mental health treated equally to physical health and covered under OHIP.
Vince Grimaldi, New Blue Party
The funding the government gives the health industry, seems to over look the opioid related diseases. We need to distribute the funded money, the health care gets and set up rehabilitation centres and support centres.
Joel Loughead, None of the Above Direct Democracy Party
Harm reduction is the best approach to this and other urgent health crises. It begins with destigmatization and decriminalization.
How can we expect our most marginalized in society to be recognized and have a voice when Queen’s Park completely shuts out political parties with significant support from voting Ontarians?
The way we govern this province is designed to keep vulnerable people out of sight and out of mind. This needs to change now. The most direct way to make this change is by voting None Of The Above in this June 2nd election.
Joseph Westover, Populist Party of Ontario
The opioid epidemic was partly created by the rampant prescriptions given by doctors to patients that were then recycled in the black market. We would have much tighter controls on all opioids and evaluate which doctors are prescribing opioids and set in place stopgaps that if we find it just a particular doctor is prescribing a high number of opioids to investigate that Dr. to see whether or not that Dr. is actually using power to create an opioid crisis as was evidenced in Toronto with various pharmacies and doctors writing prescriptions.
We would ban the Pharma incentives to Doctors of new drugs being tested on patients through our current system and using doctors to identify patients for these programs. We need to have much tighter controls on the introduction of new drugs into the marketplace and the data must be corroborated in all studies.
We would push the police to act instead of sitting stagnant on known drug houses in the area and all caught using drugs or having it in their blood system would be charged with the crime it is and with more severe punishment to deter its use.
*Editor’s note: Any incomplete answers were cut to meet the 200-word count limit on responses candidates were informed of.