Today, CUPE Ontario is standing in solidarity with hundreds of concerned Torontonians in mourning the thousands of deaths due to overdose caused by government inaction, and sounding the alarm that overdose deaths will increase after the Ford Conservatives cancelled funding for three currently-operating, and two proposed Overdose Prevention Sites (OPS) across the province.
“It is completely unacceptable for the Ford Conservatives to shut down these sites right in the middle of a public health emergency,” says Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario. “They promised to fund 21 sites, and broke that promise. They promised to focus on addiction treatment – but with no funding announcement for mental health and addictions on the horizon, it’s yet another false promise they had no intention of keeping.”