The Ford government does not have “effective processes” in place to deal with the growing opioid crisis in Ontario, the province’s auditor general found, calling into question the province’s approach to dealing with addictions.
Ontario’s auditor general Shelley Spence also found Tuesday the province continues to rely on an outdated opioid strategy, and that the government appears to have an uncoordinated approach to managing the crisis.
“There is no specific party that has been designated to lead, oversee and co-ordinate the work,” the auditor found. “No specific goals or targets have been set … and there is no ongoing monitoring or evaluation of performance or outcomes.”
Her Tuesday report highlighted that, between 2016 and 2023, the number of opioid-related deaths in Ontario increased by 205 per cent. Fatalities in Ontario were the fifth worst per 100,000 people in the country, after British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Supervised consumption site closures
The auditor general’s review of the province’s opioid strategy was thrown a curveball in August, when the Ford government announced it would restrict the number of supervised consumption sites in Ontario by creating a new buffer zone around schools or daycares.
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At least 10 sites that fell within the 200-metre zone will be forced to close in March and new legislation will prevent those sites from reopening in new locations.
The province said it would instead spend $378 million on a homelessness and addiction recovery treatment (HART) hub model that will offer most services that supervised consumption sites currently provide, with the exception of monitored drug use.
The audit found the government’s decision was made “without proper planning, impact analysis or public consultation” and that the HART hubs model was created “without a needs-based assessment.”
“The ministry did not develop a comprehensive plan to assess and quantify the impacts on public health and Ontario’s Health system (for example, a potential increase in overdoses and emergency department visits) prior to finalizing the decision to introduce new legislation,” the audit found.
The legislation is currently being fast-tracked through the legislature using time-allocation motions and will not receive any public hearings.
The auditor general did praise the government’s investment in HART Hubs as part of a potential solution and “positive development” toward solving the opioid crisis but said issues remained.
Outdated Strategy
Even as the crisis worsened, the audit found that the Ford government continues to rely on an “outdated” opioid strategy that was first created in 2016 — a plan that doesn’t address the risks associated with a toxic drug supply and needs among users.
In 2020, as drug use increased during the pandemic, the province unveiled the ‘Roadmap to Wellness’ that called out the “internal fragmentation and poor co-ordination” in the system. That roadmap suggested poor co-ordination created a barrier to accessing mental health and addiction treatment.
Despite this, the auditor found that the system “continues to be fragmented” with multiple parties working in silos and that the province lacked “accountability” and “leadership” on the file to ensure outcomes.
“We found that accountability is lacking and remains unclear, with no specific party being designated as a lead to oversee and co-ordinate the work, no specific goals or targets being set for different parties to work toward and no ongoing monitoring or evaluation of performance and outcomes,” the auditor’s report stated.
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