Politics at play as NDP stalls supervised consumption site

Opinion

The Manitoba NDP made a big promise during the 2023 election campaign: to open the province’s first supervised consumption site. Nearly two years later, that promise remains just that — a promise.

Housing, Addictions and Homelessness Minister Bernadette Smith has said repeatedly since the NDP won government in October 2023 that the province will open one soon, but she has never offered a concrete timeline.

Last week wasn’t much different. When asked by reporters for an update on when the long-awaited facility will open, all she would say is it will happen before the end of the NDP’s first term in office.

That could mean another two years of waiting before Manitobans finally see an overdose prevention centre. In the meantime, more people will die unnecessarily from toxic drugs.

The explanation? More consultation.

Smith insists the province still needs to “talk with the community” before moving forward.

“We want to do our due diligence in terms of consulting, making sure that we’re getting it right,” Smith said on the grounds of the Manitoba legislature after an International Overdose Awareness Day rally on Aug. 29.

But how much more talking is required? Manitobans have been hearing about supervised consumption sites for years. The evidence has been studied and debated to death. Jurisdictions across Canada and around the world have already implemented them with measurable success. There is nothing left to consult on.

At this point, further consultation looks less like meaningful engagement and more like a convenient excuse for delay.

Manitoba is in the middle of a deadly overdose crisis. The numbers speak for themselves: overdose deaths have been rising steadily in recent years, driven by increasingly toxic street drugs like fentanyl. Families are losing loved ones every week. First responders and hospital staff are overwhelmed.

Government officials have acknowledged the scale of the crisis. Yet their actions don’t match their words. If you truly believe you’re in the middle of a public health emergency, you act quickly and decisively. You don’t drag your heels for two years while people die.

The NDP argues that finding the “right location” is complicated. Last year, the province identified a proposed site at 200 Disraeli Fwy., but concerns were raised that it was too close to a school and daycare.

Nine months later, Premier Wab Kinew has announced that the Disraeli Freeway site is off the table, and Manitobans are left wondering whether the government even knows where this facility will go.

Meanwhile, every day of delay costs lives.

What makes this dithering especially frustrating is that the evidence on supervised consumption sites could not be clearer.

Research shows they reduce overdose deaths, lower rates of HIV and hepatitis, and provide a point of contact to connect people with addictions counselling, detox and treatment services.

Not only do they save lives, but they also improve public safety, including fewer needles in playgrounds, fewer overdoses in public washrooms and fewer 911 calls for paramedics.

So why is Manitoba still stalling?

It’s hard not to suspect politics is at play. The NDP may be nervous about backlash from certain communities. Supervised consumption sites are still controversial in some quarters (based largely on misinformation and fearmongering).

But leadership means making tough decisions in the public interest, even when they’re not universally popular. The NDP should be more concerned about saving lives than managing optics.

The irony is that Kinew campaigned on bold change. His government was supposed to be different from the Progressive Conservatives, who refused to even consider the harm reduction measure when they were in government. Yet nearly halfway into its mandate, the NDP has still not made good on one of its key election promises.

Every excuse — more consultation, location challenges, community resistance — falls flat when stacked against the daily toll of the drug crisis. Other cities faced the same obstacles years ago and overcame them. Manitoba could, too, if the government had the political will.

The bottom line is this: the NDP promised a supervised consumption site. They acknowledged the need. They pointed to the evidence. They said it would happen. Now they need to stop dragging their feet and deliver.

The longer the NDP waits, the more Manitobans will die needlessly. Families will be left to grieve loved ones who could have been saved if only the government had the courage to act.

While in opposition, the NDP criticized the former PC government for refusing to consider a supervised consumption site. They argued lives were being lost to contaminated street drugs because of the Tories’ inaction.

Next month marks two years in government for the NDP — the halfway point of their mandate — and still no supervised consumption site.

If Kinew and Smith are serious about tackling the overdose crisis, they should prove it — by announcing the opening of Manitoba’s first supervised consumption site this year, not two years from now.

Anything less would be a betrayal of the promise they made to Manitobans and to the families counting on them to act.

» Tom Brodbeck is a Winnipeg Free Press columnist.