Bill 223 is an omnibus bill. It has nine schedules and has some good measures in it.

There has been concern expressed about Schedule 4 which puts limits on supervised consumption sites.

I and the Liberal caucus are in favour of supervised consumption sites because they save lives. Full stop.

Bill 223 still allows a government to permit supervised consumption sites to move. They should be helping existing sites move instead of just closing them. If people aren’t kept alive, they cannot receive treatment.

We also support having supervised consumption sites more than 200 metres from schools and childcare centres.

People need to be confident about their safety in order to give their support. You may know that when the City of Kingston proposed to use the old Extendicare site for healthcare and transitional housing, the facts were not clear, and local residents were worried about having encampments in their neighbourhood, like those around the Integrated Care Hub. Naturally, they opposed the City’s idea.

Safety has become all the more important to address for Kingston after the killings near the Integrated Care Hub in September. When it’s clear to people that their personal safety is not at stake, they will be more supportive about helping those struggling with mental health and addictions. I believe that the overwhelming majority of people in Kingston and the Islands are compassionate and want to be part of the solution – myself included – but there has to be a balance struck.