UCP striking committee on 'safe supply' of opioids, NDP skeptical of motive
Alberta is launching a bipartisan committee to study the issue of regulated supply sites for people who take opioids and other addictive substances.
The federal government calls the practice “safer supply.” Ottawa defines it as providing “prescribed medications to people who use drugs overseen by a healthcare practitioner” to prevent overdoses while offering treatment options.
There are currently 28 sites across the country, mostly in Ontario, and one approved site in Calgary.
The province’s associate minister of mental health and addiction would not say Monday if he supported the practice.
Instead, he accused the federal Liberals and Alberta NDP of “advocating for a taxpayer-funded supply of drugs for people with addiction.”
“Activists propose that users should be able to take these drugs and use them recreationally, with no restrictions and no accountability,’ said Mike Ellis, who is also a former police officer.
“This approach is concerning as it is widely accepted that the opioid crisis as we know it today was started by the OxyContin epidemic.”
Ellis said the committee meetings would be public and he would wait until after it made its findings to decide where he stands.
“This is a medical issue. It’s not about criminalizing this, and we’re looking and exploring all opportunities to do what is best for the citizens,” he said.
The province has recently funded an additional 8,000 addiction treatment beds, Ellis said.
NDP leader Rachel Notley said she’d go into the committee process with an open mind, but she was skeptical of the government’s motives.
“What’s not helpful is a UCP government that suggests that safe supply is some nefarious attempt to simply randomly hand out drugs to Albertans,” she said.
“I hope that is not the object of this committee.”
A local public health expert, who has been critical of the government’s policies on harm reduction, also took issue with Ellis’ statements.
“Negative sentiments like these from the Assoc. Minister make it very hard to believe this process will be fair, open and unbiased; or that the gov’t will seriously reconsider its current position on safe supply,” tweeted Elaine Hyshka, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta.
From January until the end of August 2021, 1,026 Albertans have died of a drug overdose, according to provincial data.
The government is proposing that UCP MLA Jeremy Nixon chair the committee with Tracy Allard serving as the deputy chair. Four NDP MLAs are also proposed to sit on the committee.
MLA Jason Nixon made the announcement in the legislature Monday and said the committee also intends to study any potential "increased risks" to people near the sites.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is supportive of ‘safe supply’ as one way to fight Canada’s overdose crisis.
In March 2020, the Alberta government released a report on supervised injection sites in the province, a process that was also criticized by some experts and community members.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Maximum payout for LifeLabs class-action drops from $150 estimate to $7.86
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.