SASK. PARTY SHAMEFULLY LIES ABOUT 60 CLOSED TREATMENT BEDS DURING ADDICTIONS AWARENESS WEEK

REGINA – Hundreds of Saskatchewan people are dying every year from drug addiction and, rather than taking action to save lives, the Sask. Party is blatantly lying about the addiction treatment services it has made available.

“I’m hearing from families that simply can’t get their loved ones into a treatment program, and they are livid when they hear the Sask. Party lie about all the beds they have opened when it simply isn’t true,” said Betty Nippi-Albright, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Addictions. “After 17 years, the Sask. Party just doesn’t get it. They’re out of touch, desperate, and apparently will say anything.”

In a member’s statement commemorating Addictions Awareness Week yesterday, the Sask. Party MLA for Batoche falsely claimed:

We have surpassed our original goal of opening 200 more spaces by announcing 215 new addictions treatment spaces across the province so far. Some examples of these new spaces include … 60 treatment spaces at Willowview Recovery in Lumsden.

This is a blatant lie, repeated frequently by Sask. Party Leader Scott Moe during the provincial campaign, including during the Leader’s debate when he claimed that “over 200 built today is not in any way rhetoric” regarding the treatment beds.

In reality, Willowview Recovery’s 60 beds remain closed, with no timeline for opening. Opposition staff confirmed this yesterday after visiting the facility and speaking with building staff.

Speaking over the phone, another staff member yesterday told the Opposition that:

They were trying to open up by, it was May, last May, right? But there’s all, like, the red tape with licencing and getting, you know, kind of, all the things the facility, you know. You know, like, there’s protocols like having, you know, a certain amount of fire hydrants [inaudible] those kinds of things. There’s a lot of red tape with that so it’s a little bit longer than anticipated. You know, to be quite honest, we have a couple of councillors that are supposed to be working at the Willowview, [in British Columbia], because they are waiting to work. … They’re just waiting. They’re working at Edgewood Nanaimo until [the Lumsden centre] opens. And I don’t have a date. Sorry. I don’t have a date. I’m not trying to mislead you at all. I don’t have a clue.

And another employee revealed that the waitlist for these beds is already a year long and suggested that Saskatchewan people struggling with addiction seek treatment in Toronto.

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