Kinew promises addictions beds funding

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This article was published 31/07/2019 (2288 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Chastising the Pallister government for not doing more to address the meth crisis, NDP Leader Wab Kinew said that if his party forms government, he will quickly fund a Main Street Project plan to create detoxification, treatment and transitional housing beds for those struggling with addictions.

MSP requires $1.5 million in provincial capital funding to leverage millions of federal dollars to help transform the old Mitchell Fabrics building on Main Street into a usable space for its clients.

MSP is also looking at beefing up medical and counselling staff to better deal with addictions.

Its proposal, which was submitted to the provincial government in February 2018, also includes a request for $2 million in operating funding to support the equivalent of 17.8 full-time positions.

Brandon East Manitoba NDP candidate Lonnie Patterson said that a “fully-costed plan to help Westman families struggling with the addictions crisis” will be announced at some point during the campaign.

“I have heard from a lot of Brandon families whose loved ones can’t get the treatment that they need, and I’ve also heard from a lot of Brandon residents that are just concerned about how they don’t really feel as safe as they once did,” she said.

“The reality is that people move around the province as well — we have people from Brandon ending up in Winnipeg, we have people from Winnipeg and other communities ending up in Brandon. The real point is is that people need services across the province.”

During Tuesday’s announcement in Winnipeg, Kinew criticized the Progressive Conservative government for failing to adequately address addictions and mental health issues.

“We know that the addictions crisis in Manitoba is huge, and we know that we need to act urgently,” Kinew said at a news conference, surrounded by election candidates and supporters, at MSP’s administrative building on Main Street on Tuesday.

“Essentially, what we’re proposing with this plan is to locate more mental health and addictions supports here at Main Street Project so that we don’t have to burden the (hospital) emergency rooms,” he said.

Considerable police time could also be saved if there were more resources provided for addictions and mental health, he said, noting recent pleas by Mayor Brian Bowman and police Chief Danny Smyth and others for more provincial action in these areas.

However, a spokesman for the Progressive Conservative party said late Tuesday that the government last week approved the addition of 120 beds for the Main Street Project’s shelter. He said that commitment will help MSP leverage the federal money for its capital expansion project.

The PC spokesman did not have detailed information about the Pallister government bed commitment, referring a reporter to MSP executive director Rick Lees, who couldn’t immediately be reached.

The spokesman said the government has invested “significant new resources” to address the meth problem, including the opening up of five Rapid Access to Addictions Medicine clinics, six new treatment beds at Health Sciences Centre, three dozen new women’s treatment beds at the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba’s Portage Avenue site and four more at the Behavioural Health Foundation.

“We will also be opening long-term withdrawal beds, suitable for treating patients with a meth addiction, in Winnipeg and Brandon in the next few weeks,” he said.

Tahl East, director of detoxification and stabilization with Main Street Project, said earlier that 70 per cent of women and 50-60 per cent of men who enter her program are addicted to meth.

“We’re not seeing the significant aggression issues that are being seen elsewhere, I think, mostly because we make connections with people,” she said of MSP’s meth clients.

“Connections are important to recovery.”

» Winnipeg Free Press, with files by Erin DeBooy