Mr. Chair, Nanaimo has been hit early and hit hard by the opioid crisis, with 150 deaths in the last five years and overdose rates last year that were 50% higher than in the rest of B.C. Firefighters told me this morning they are on track to be called out to 500 overdoses this year, just in our city of 100,000 people. It is colossal.
Given that the Liberals called this debate tonight, we really wanted to hear more oomph and about the new offer for families that are hit so hard. I want to read a letter sent to me by Teena MacKenzie. She wrote it to the Prime Minister and copied me. She said:
My close friend lost her daughter.... [She was] a young mother, just 25-years-old. Three weeks shy of her only son's 4th birthday....
Yes, her mother tried to seek help for her daughter many times. Many times [she was] turned away as a waiting list grows. You can not place an addict on a waiting list for help; it almost appears these human beings are put on a waiting list to die instead....
Justin, where are the changes?....
I have read the Federal Government Action Plan; all I read is observers collecting information and No real action plan; PLEASE STOP stop talking and START DOING!
When is the government going to start doing more to treat the opioid emergency in the way that victims and their families deserve?