REGINA - Opposition New Democrats made known their concerns after the Provincial Auditor’s report was released Tuesday.
In particular, the NDP’s newly-named Health critic Meara Conway pointed to the findings of Provincial Auditor Tara Clemett on the opioids situation, as well as interpersonal violence.
Conway pointed to the “concerns that the Auditor noted in terms of the opioid crisis, the lack of capacity and the lack of access to services as this drug crisis and drug toxicity crisis only gets worse year over year.”
Conway also pointed to Clemett’s findings on “the lack of services around second-stage shelter.”
“Of course, Saskatchewan continues to rank dead last when it comes to interpersonal violence, and so the concerns noted by the Auditor in these areas are of great concern to us.”
Conway particularly raised concerns about the Provincial Auditor’s concerns about “a lack of capacity in places where the drug crisis has hit hardest, such as Saskatoon.
“We see a lack of access to methadone, which of course increases the likelihood of relapse and deters people from treatment to begin with. We see a lack of information for the very most vulnerable, who we would hope that this government is targeting with access to treatment, such as the lack of information in shelters, for example.”
Conway also said she was concerned that the government’s response to the drug crisis has been “ideologically driven.”
“They have not taken an evidence-based approach. We've been very clear from the beginning that we need an all-of-the-above approach.”
But Conway told reporters the government was not taking an all-of-the-above approach, and were not making sure that services are available where and when people need them.
“And I'm concerned that we'll continue to see these numbers increase. We'll continue to see the drug crisis get worse, because we have a government that has continuously politicized this crisis instead of roll up their sleeves, meet people where they're at, and provide a range of services where and when people need them.”
