Sudbury MPP Jamie West introduces motion to prevent opioid overdoses

The NDP MPP for Sudbury is calling on the provincial government to do more to address the opioid crisis across the province.

On Thursday, MPP Jamie West introduced his private member's motion, called Preventing Overdoses in the North: More than just a statistic.

West says he wants the provincial government to declare this as a public health emergency.

"With just saying it's a crisis but not declaring it a public health emergency, it means you don't have to put any money forward," he said."It's more of the thoughts and prayers versus boots on the ground."

West says he's hopeful the province will work with him to get the motion passed.

"[If passed], the government would commit funding towards it and the funding would go towards comprehensive, evidence-based, local health and community initiatives," he said.

"So harm reduction strategies, awareness programs, anti-stigma training, residential treatment, overdose prevention services.

According to Public Health Ontario, 1,022 people died in Ontario in the first nine months of 2018 due to an overdose. In 2017, a total of 1,261 people died from an opioid overdose an increase from 2016 when 867 people died.

'Crisis affects us all'

West says his Sudbury riding has experienced a spike in opioid related emergency visits and deaths over the past year.

"From January to June 2019, Greater Sudbury paramedics responded to 262 suspected opioid related incidents," a release from his office stated.

"For the same period in 2018, they responded to 67 opioid related incidents."

The outgoing CEO of the Canadian Mental Health Association for the Sudbury branch, Marion Quigley, joined West as he introduced his motion to show support.

"This crisis affects us all and we need to address the issue together so all citizens have good timely access to treatment and supports," she said.

"Communities, health care organizations and frontline workers need a provincial partner to join them in helping people impacted by this crisis. Instead, the Ford government has been nothing short of cruel thus far. The Conservatives have cut public health funding, placed an arbitrary cap on the number of overdose prevention sites in Ontario and are forcing frontline responders who are already run off their feet to do more with fewer resources."

The motion will be debated Thursday afternoon at Queen's Park.