MINISTER CARR IS EITHER LYING OR TOTALLY INCOMPETENT AFTER CBC REVEALS DATA ON WAITING LISTS FOR ADDICTION TREATMENT SHE CLAIMED DIDN’T EXIST

Despite Repeated Requests from Sask. NDP, Carr Insisted Numbers Were Unavailable

REGINA – The Saskatchewan NDP is demanding the Minister of Mental Health & Addictions explain why CBC News was able to obtain information about wait lists for addiction treatment that she repeatedly claimed didn’t exist when questioned in the Legislature.

For weeks in Question Period, the opposition pressed Lori Carr to release the total number of people waiting for addiction treatment and a breakdown of wait lists by facility. Each time, she insisted the province does not track that information and would be unable to provide it until a centralized system is in place, something the Sask. Party has been promising for the past two years.

However, CBC reported today that it obtained that exact information through a Freedom of Information request.

“She’s either withholding the information or is totally incompetent,” said Betty Nippi-Albright, NDP Shadow Minister for Mental Health & Addictions.

“We have a full-blown drug crisis on our hands that the Sask. Party created after 18 years of underfunding mental health and addictions, and we have a minister who doesn’t have a clue.”

Nippi-Albright, a former addictions counsellor, says she’s received a growing number of troubling calls and emails from individuals and families desperate for treatment but forced to wait weeks or months. Saskatchewan is currently experiencing a drug crisis that’s taking a life every single day.

“If she understood her job or cared about the people in this province she would have been on top of this the moment overdose deaths started rising. Instead, she’s asleep at the wheel,” said Nippi-Albright.

“When somebody's reaching out for help you must act. If they're turned away from detox, we lose them.”

Additionally, the Sask. Party has repeatedly promised to create 500 new treatment spaces. Minister Carr claims 300 of those is now available, but CBC’s reporting shows there are only 221.

“Once again, she’s misleading the public,” added Nippi-Albright. “This is what you get after 18 years of a tired and out-of-touch Sask. Party government.”

According to the government data, the wait time for an addictions treatment space in the Minister’s own riding of Estevan is six weeks. The Family Treatment Centre in Prince Albert has an 8 to 12 week wait time for Residential Addiction Services.

Nearly a person per day has died in Saskatchewan of drug overdose or poisoning, according to the provincial Coroners Service.

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