The provincial election season is heating up, as such our local candidates addressed the community directly during Tuesday night's All-Candidates forum. Many questions were raised, among them was the issue of mental health and addictions that has remained a constant concern for many of Moose Jaw’s residents.
During the forum the four prospective MLAs were asked by members of the community on how they would best tackle the city’s growing concerns, especially within the downtown core.
Cheantelle Fisher, Moose Jaw North’s NDP candidate was first up to bat on a question regarding a potential Prairie Harm Reduction site in Moose Jaw, voicing her party’s commitment to increasing available resources.
“Carla Beck and the Saskatchewan NDP is committed to healthcare and mental health and addiction services, which is why we have committed to investing a record $1.1 billion over our four-year term to support healthcare workers and the patients who sorely need their care.” said Fisher.
“We cannot live without these people, and for years and years we have heard the stories of closures, of healthcare workers burning out and leaving this province. That is unacceptable and to support folks who have addictions and mental health care needs, we need to have a strong, robust health care system.”
The Saskatchewan Party’s Moose Jaw-Wakamow candidate, Megan Patterson weighed in, explaining the recovery-oriented approach being implemented by her party.
“We are implementing a recovery-oriented system of care. The recovery orientated system of care is about opening more beds, it's about providing longer term terms in rehabilitation, it's about providing wrap around services for those you know who are receiving the services so that they can and re-enter into society successfully.” said Megan Patterson.
“We don't believe that there's any such thing as safe supply. We think that there's no safe supply of an illicit drug.”
Melissa Patterson, NDP candidate for Moose Jaw Wakamow, took aim at the Saskatchewan Party’s support programs, specifically the proposed Saskatchewan Marshals Service.
“It's heartbreaking to hear some of the stories that we're getting from people who are being left behind across this province. We've all seen firsthand just how inadequate the supports that are out there actually are. Under the South Party, homelessness and poverty are growing in communities large and small. Saskatchewan's a rich province and it doesn't have to be this way.” said Melissa Patterson, before outlining her plans.
“We will work between government ministries and partners to fill empty public housing units, expand social supports and improve access to healthcare and economic opportunities. All of this will help us reduce crime and reduce addiction with record investments into mental health and addictions. By scrapping the Marshall Service, we'll have more (workers) on the ground in those frontline positions that are working so hard to help these folks, we don't need another bureaucracy that won't be running until 2026.”
Moose Jaw North’s Saskatchewan Party candidate, Tim McLeod, levelled some criticism at the responses given. He spoke directly about the potential introduction of a safe injection site in the city.
“I didn't hear either of the NDP candidates answer that question. The question was specifically about injection sites in Moose Jaw and the Saskatchewan Party’s answer to that is: No. We don't believe there's any such thing as a safe injection of an illicit drug. It's the drugs that are killing people today.” explained McLeod.
“It's the drug addictions that we need to help people overcome. Giving people needles and crack pipes and a supply of drugs is not helping the problem. It's worsening the problem. We've seen it with the NDP government in British Columbia. The problem only gets worse if you enable people to continue to live a life in addiction.”
“We will meet people where they're at, but we will not leave them. We need to help people who are battling addiction get up and find the path to recovery. We need to give them the supports and the services that they need, to wrap the supports around them so that they don't fall back through the cracks and they don't end up battling that addiction any longer. We need to get them on the path to recovery so that they can lead safe, healthy lives.”