Calgary city councillors riled over minister's comments on Supervised Consumption Site
CTV
Some Calgary city council members are taking issue with comments made by Alberta's addiction minister and are reiterating any decision to close a Supervised Consumption Site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre is a provincial responsibility.
Some Calgary city council members are taking issue with comments made by Alberta's addiction minister and are reiterating any decision to close a Supervised Consumption Site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre is a provincial responsibility.
"The Government of Alberta has failed to take meaningful action on a more comprehensive approach for harm reduction, detox, treatment and recovery," Mayor Jyoti Gondek said in a statement to CTV News.
"Meanwhile, city council has invested an additional $15 million to address transit safety and downtown safety, to deal with the result of provincial inaction.”
Council voted to replace a motion to advocate the province for the site's closure with another motion to have Gondek write the province to ask them to make an informed decision about the future of the site.
The latter motion was then defeated in a 5-9 vote against.
That decision essentially means council is taking no official position on whether or not to close the Supervised Consumption Site (SCS).
Although health care is defined as a provincial responsibility, Addictions Minister Dan Williams had asked councillors to make the decision.
