There is a drug-poisoning crisis in Ontario, and that is resulting in the deaths of, on average, 10 people a day. In 2023, 3,753 people died needlessly—because these deaths are preventable.

The government of Ontario has a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of all Ontarians. Part of that is to ensure that there are supervised consumption services available. These sites save lives, and they also are a gateway to supportive services, including addiction treatments, that we know this government is pushing hard on. But for folks to be able to get there, first they need to be alive. That can happen when supervised consumption services are provided.

This petition is calling on the government to provide funding so that SCSs can reopen in Windsor and Sudbury, so that they can keep the site in Timmins open, to expedite the approval process for outstanding applications, and to ensure that every community that needs an SCS is able to have one.

I fully support this petition.

The rates for Ontario Works have been frozen, and the small increases for ODSP, the Ontario Disability Support Program, leave recipients still struggling and well below the poverty line. So the petition here is calling on the Legislature to call on the government to double both Ontario Works and Ontario disability rates.

I rise today with great concern over the inaction and provincial defunding of urgently needed supervised consumption services in Ontario. This will result in increased overdose deaths and undue burden on emergency response services, and will deny the rights of access to essential health care interventions and wrap-around supports for people dealing with addictions.

In 2018, when this Conservative government came to power, they arbitrarily capped funding to only 21 sites. Six years later, despite overwhelming need and local support, only 17 sites have been approved and funded. Now, even this handful of sites are under imminent threat of closure due to lack of funding.

Communities across this province are declaring states of emergency over this crisis. Sites are operating through the sacrifices of burnt-out front-line workers, keeping doors open through piecemeal donations. This is for basic life-saving services.

There were an estimated 3,644 drug-related deaths just last year in Ontario and over 20,000 deaths under this government’s watch.

The Conservative government is literally abandoning the most vulnerable and marginalized people in our province.

The overdose crisis is impacting many in my community of Parkdale–High Park and people across Toronto. But do you know what, Speaker? It’s worse in northern Ontario and in southwestern Ontario. It’s smaller cities that are hardest hit by this crisis—many communities that Conservative MPPs represent.

These are preventable deaths. The government must stop ignoring this crisis. It’s not going to go away unless you do something about it.