Tory changes to drug detox centre bill means NDP will miss weekend target date

Proposed legislation to open a detox centre to hold people in the throes of a meth psychosis for up to 72 hours has little chance of passing by the NDP government’s Nov. 1 target date.

The opposition Tories have a list of amendments they want debated before passing Bill 48, the Protective Detention and Care of Intoxicated Persons Act that the government says is meant to keep people safe.

Bernadette Smith, the minister for housing, addictions and homelessness told reporters earlier this month that a planned “protective care centre” at 190 Disraeli Fwy. could open as early as Nov. 1 if the bill is passed.

With the legislation still before the house, the Progressive Conservatives calling for changes and just two legislature sitting days before Saturday’s target, the chance of the bill passing before the weekend are slim to none.

“I can’t comment on the hypothetical, on the future,” PC Leader Obby Khan said Tuesday about whether the Tories will allow the bill to pass this week — or by the Nov. 6 end of the session.

“I can comment that we are bringing (forward) real, tangible concerns that Manitobans had.”

The proposed legislation would replace the Intoxicated Persons Detention Act, which allows for the 24-hour involuntary detention of people intoxicated by alcohol.

The protective care centre proposes 20 spaces for people to detox from the effects of drugs under medical supervision. It would also provide a variety of health resources, including prenatal testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections and other conditions.

The amendments the Tories plan to debate Wednesday include prohibiting a protective care centre from being located within 500 metres of a school, child-care centre, personal-care home, playground, park or community centre.

“Some of those people may be in a state — both a physical state, a mental state,” said PC housing, addictions and homelessness critic Jeff Bereza.

“They could be harmful to themselves, but they could also be harmful to kids going to school, to daycares and that,” the member for Portage la Prairie said late Tuesday.

“We want to make sure that there is enough space there so that they can’t be harmful to somebody else in the area. If my grandma is living that close, you know, do we really want it that close?”

The Tories don’t want a mobile overdose prevention component — such as the mobile supervised consumption vehicle operated by Sunshine House — within 500 metres of the protective care centre.

The PCs want the act to require that Smith publish a plan for addressing potential impacts of the protective care centre on the community. Their proposed amendments include a 45-day community consultation about any regulations made or changed under the act, and at least one community meeting with Smith.

“It’s important that we listen to the neighbourhoods,” Bereza said. “At least with a consultative process, they’ll have their opportunity to be heard. Right now there’s no way they can be heard.”

The PCs also want the act to include data collection and reporting. The government would have to publish reports within 60 days of the start of the calendar year saying how many people were detained the previous year, how many were detained more than once, the sex, age and gender of those detained, the type of programs and services offered to them upon release and how many were allowed to stay longer in protective care to receive additional care or services.

Khan said the PC amendments to the bill follow input from community members at a legislative committee meeting that ran until after midnight.

“We brought those all forward in a way for this premier and minister to listen to Manitobans like they say they are. They’re supposed to be listening and make those changes,” he said.

“I would say the ball is in their courts. We’ve been very clear and I’ve been very clear as leader that we support increased times for holding people who are experiencing or are going through a meth psychosis. But it has to be done the right way. It has to be done properly… with the utmost care and due diligence, not ramming the bill through like the NDP is doing.”

Minister Bernadette Smith’s spokesperson Emily Coutts offered this statement when asked for comment: “The PCs are trying to obstruct legislation that will help save lives. They don’t want Manitobans to get the health care they deserve and we need. These amendments are an attempt to block…  Manitobans need to know if they support our bill and if they will vote for it—yes or no.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca