MSTH calls on federal party leaders for positions on overdose crisis: Believes crisis should be a priority in the upcoming federal election!

Justin Trudeau, Erin O’Toole, Yves-François Blanchet, Jagmeet Singh and Annamie Paul, YOU'VE GOT MAIL from our Co-Founders Leslie McBain and Petra Schulz.

With a federal election looming, Moms Stop The Harm (MSTH) wants to know where parties stand on the overdose and drug poisoning crisis.

In order to figure this out, our organization recently sent letters to federal party leaders asking them what their positions will be on a variety of issues in the upcoming election. Our letter to the Prime Minister follows as an example.

Our decision to write to federal party leaders has its origins in the last federal election. After the 2019 election, MSTH despaired because it was clear to us that the overdose crisis wasn’t a priority for most federal parties.

It wasn’t a priority in spite of a massive death toll – a toll that has only gotten larger. According to Public Health, over 21,000 people have died from opioid-related deaths in the last five years, although the real figure is probably closer to 25,000 once 2021 fatalities are added.

MSTH’s goal coming out of the 2019 election was to increase pressure on our federal representatives to take the overdose crisis more seriously. With this in mind, we sent petitions on the overdose crisis to Members of Parliament and asked municipalities to help us in getting federal attention with resolutions. Now, we are following up with letters to party leaders.

Ultimately, we’re hoping these actions will make a difference in what federal parties commit to in the coming election.

We think the overdose crisis should be an election priority and that it will say something dire about our federal representatives if it isn’t. We also think that all parties need to be bolder this time around. Unlike in 2019, there is now strong support in Canada for decriminalization for personal use and growing support for legally regulating controlled substances.

Ultimately leaders, to be elected, need to follow the will and desire of the electorate. Those affected by the crisis and all Canadians feel it is time for change and that letting thousands of Canadians die from drug policy failures is not acceptable!

Here is an example of our letter to the leaders.

Once we have data back from our letter we will make that available to our network.