“I am the only candidate who can stop Chow and stop her drug decriminalization agenda." - Mark Saunders

Toronto – As Mayor, Mark Saunders will cancel Toronto City Council’s irresponsible request to the federal government to decriminalize drugs for personal use for both adults and youth in the city.

Olivia Chow thinks supervised injection sites are working just fine. She is prepared to provide sites with more funding, expanding access and not treatment for those struggling with addiction. She also supports Toronto’s drug decriminalization plan, which would allow hard drugs to fall into the hands of both adults and youth in Toronto.

“After spending 38 years in law enforcement, I’ve seen the carnage first-hand of drug abuse on addicts, young people, and their families across the city. Those experiences never leave you,” said Saunders. “I’m running because Olivia Chow’s platform will do nothing to help those struggling with addictions, but make it worse. All of us must come together to stop Chow and her decriminalization agenda.”

In addition to canceling Council’s request to decriminalize drugs, Saunders will take the following actions as Mayor to address the addictions crisis:

• Adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward needle disposal outside of supervised injection sites.
• Make it easier to report used needles for cleanup in the 311 app.
• Revisiting the Toronto Overdose Action Plan to focus more on treatment, as opposed to continuing to expand the facilitation of drug use.

“There are two choices in this race. If you want more needles littering our parks and more drugs on our streets, vote for Olivia Chow,” said Saunders. “If you want clean and safe parks and main streets, vote for me.”