Ontario's Premier Accountability Dashboard · Queen's Park Watch
Sylvia Jones
Ontario Minister of Health. Drove the closure of Ontario's supervised consumption sites through Bill 223 (November 2024), publicly assuring that "people are not going to die" as a result. The Auditor General found the Ministry of Health never assessed what health impacts — including overdose deaths — the closures would cause before passing the legislation. The AG's office found the sites had prevented approximately 1,600 fatal overdoses in a single year.
Connected Scandals
In August 2024, Ford's government ordered the closure of supervised consumption sites within 200 metres of schools or daycares — a rule that targeted 10 sites for elimination. The government conducted no studies before closing them. Its own internal risk assessment warned deaths would result. Its own commissioned reviews of the triggering site recommended against closure. Ontario's Auditor General found the sites had prevented nearly 1,600 fatal overdoses in a single year. After the April 2025 closures: overdoses at Toronto drop-in centres rose 75% in the first month, 175% in May, and 288% by June. Paramedic opioid overdose calls in Toronto were up 47% by January 2026. Hamilton recorded its worst overdose numbers in history. Health Minister Sylvia Jones, asked if she had estimated how many people would die: "People are not going to die."
As Health Minister, Jones sponsored Bill 223 closing 10 supervised consumption and treatment sites. She publicly stated "people are not going to die" as a result. The Auditor General found the Ministry never conducted a health impact assessment before the decision was made. A court challenge found the closures would cause deaths and issued an injunction — which the Ford government challenged and ultimately circumvented by defunding remaining sites in March 2026.
Over 157 inmates were improperly released from Ontario's dangerously overcrowded provincial jails between 2021 and 2025 — six remain at large as of April 2026. Solicitor General Michael Kerzner told the legislature they were all caught "instantaneously." Global News FOI documents proved that was false. Kerzner apologized "unreservedly." At the same Maplehurst facility running at 175% capacity, correctional officers zip-tied 200 inmates in their underwear for two days — and a judge stayed first-degree murder charges as a result.
As Deputy Premier and former Attorney General of Ontario, Jones oversaw the justice system during the period when the Ford government refused the Auditor General's recommendation to track reasons for stayed charges (2019 recommendation, refused 2019 and 2024). As Deputy Premier, she is part of the cabinet collectively responsible for the correctional overcrowding crisis and the systemic underfunding of courts and Legal Aid Ontario.