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Fedeli Echoes Mattawa Call For Action on Opioid Crisis

QUEEN’S PARK –  Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli today brought forward local concerns about the ongoing opioid crisis in Ontario.  In a Member’s Statement, Fedeli relayed a resolution passed recently by council in Mattawa.

The text of his statement is as follows:

Thank you, Speaker. The opioid crisis in Ontario has hit my riding as well as many others very hard.

 We’ve had 15 fentanyl-related deaths, which thankfully have been curbed since the introduction of the Patch 4 Patch program, the focus of my Private Members Bill which was adopted into law back in 2015.

 But clearly, more must be done.

 The Town of Mattawa passed a resolution recently backing a call seeking provincial support to deal with the opioid crisis on a local level.

 Their resolution called for the province to “enhance our local response…by ensuring all places that support vulnerable people as well as first responders have access to naloxone and training in its use.”

 It also echoes the call from our caucus and our Leader Patrick Brown for a “provincially funded public opioid education campaign.”

 The Town of Mattawa notes Ontario has witnessed 13 years of increasing deaths due to opioid overdoses, and numbers show a 19% increase in 2016.

 Communities across the province need support.

 We are eager to see how the government’s response translates into action and help at the local level with this crisis.

 Thank you, Speaker.

At the Official Opposition caucus retreat last month in Timmins, Leader Patrick Brown called on the government to take the following actions to address the opioid crisis:

• Crack down on illegal pill press machines used to make counterfeit pills and those who operate them.
• Re-direct 10 per cent of their whopping $57 million taxpayer-funded advertising budget to a province-wide opioid awareness campaign.
• Release weekly overdose reporting data to the public.
• Create a ministerial task force to take urgent action to address the opioid crisis.

Video of MPP Fedeli’s statement can be found here: https://youtu.be/Hvqd8YEdTkg

ALSO: Video of MPP Fedeli reading petition on hunting and fishing licences can be found here: https://youtu.be/ZFi9vshuHwU