Opioid crisis a top concern, but Cambridge mayoral candidates offer different views on solutions

When it comes to battling the opioid crisis in Cambridge, the number one thing mayoral candidate Cody Botelho wants to see is investment in mental health supports.

"What I don't agree with, in general, is enabling addiction. I think our path forward is really leaning on these mental health supports," he said during a candidate panel discussion with CBC Kitchener-Waterloo.

He clarified by "enabling addiction" he meant he was against services like the consumption and treatment site, which city council has approved but has yet to move forward.

He said people who are addicted to drugs need to be given "something to actually work towards and actually live for because one of the reasons people fall into addiction is because they have so many bad things going on in their life, so really we need to give something for them to aspire to so they can actually have a goal because if you don't have a goal, you're just going to flounder."

There are four people seeking the mayor's seat in Cambridge.Botelho, current Coun. Jan Liggett and current Mayor Kathryn McGarry took part in a panel discussion about top issues in the city. Candidate Randy Carter did not join the panel and has been emailed the questions. When he responds, his answers will be added to the bottom of this article.

In campaign materials, Carter says he supports "a realistic plan for the drug addiction problem."

Liggett says the crisis is not a recent issue and existed before she was first elected to council in 2014.

She also does not support a consumption and treatment site in the city.

"I don't think that they have been working since they were created. You just have to look to the west coast of North America and you can see what's been happening," she said, calling it a destructive form of trying to affect change in the opioid crisis.

The solution, she said, is in rehabilitation and detox facilities.

"We don't have the rehab beds in the province. We don't have detox beds in the province. We don't have mental health facilities in the province and even if we had that, we do not have the staffing to put in these places in order to support people coming off the drugs," she added.

She called on the province to provide more funding to help treatment options.

"I'm fully supportive of rehab beds. I would put hundreds of them in this community if I could do that," Liggett said.

She also says there's a need for more upstream approaches to prevent children from taking drugs.

LISTEN| Cambridge mayoral candidates take part in municipal election panel.

McGarry said the opioid crisis is a complicated situation that has developed over many years and worsened during the pandemic.

She defended council's decision to approve a consumption and treatment site, and emphasized the word "treatment" in her response.

"We meet people where they are at, we provide the wraparound services and we are all needing to jump on board," she said.

McGarry said addressing the opioid crisis also means supporting young people with sports and recreational activities and other supportive activities.

McGarry said there's been a decline in the amount of provincial money local organizations have received, including the Family Counselling Centre of Cambridge and North Dumfries.

"I believe all levels of government need to step up in a much more robust way to help resolve some of these issues in mental health and addiction supports," she said.

The municipal election is on Monday, Oct. 24.

Voting in Cambridge

Cambridge is allowing people to vote online or in-person.

Internet voting opens on Friday, Oct. 7 at midnight and closes Monday, Oct. 24 at 7:59 p.m.

There will be three advance polling days:

• Thursday, Oct. 6 and Friday Oct. 7 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Forward Baptist Church, 55 Franklin Blvd.
• Tuesday, Oct. 11 and Wednesday, Oct. 12 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Preston Auditorium Arena, 1458 Hamilton St.
• Saturday, Oct. 15 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Hespeler Arena, 640 Ellis Rd.

On Monday, Oct. 24, voting will take place from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Each ward has four locations and people can attend any of the locations within their ward to vote.

People can also go to city hall at 50 Dickson St., which is a fully accessible voting location and where accessible voting devices such as hand-held touchpads, paddles and "sip and puff" assistive technology will be available to help people cast their ballot.

People can also arrange for at-home voting on election day through the city.

• City of Cambridge election page