QUEEN’S PARK — The Official Opposition NDP Leader, Andrea Horwath, and the NDP critic for Mental Health and Addictions Bhutila Karpoche called on the Ford Conservatives today in question period to reverse its callous decision to cut funding to six overdose prevention sites — and said the response from the Ford government was inhumane.
Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services Sylvia Jones responded to the questions. In her responses, she refused to commit to reversing the funding cuts, and chastised the NDP for stating the number of overdose deaths in Ontario. “I think it’s important that we turn down the rhetoric a bit,” said Jones.
“Andrea Horwath was asking the Ford Conservatives serious questions about saving lives amid the opioid crisis gripping this province,” said Karpoche. “It’s disgusting for the Ford Conservatives to rip support away from people suffering from additions and dismiss the very real life-and-death consequences of funding cuts to overdose prevention sites as ‘rhetoric’.
“The NDP is urging this government to immediately restore funding to the overdose prevention sites that are at risk of closing so front-line workers can continue their life-saving work.”