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If the tripartite task force announced Tuesday to fight the growing scourge of meth, opiods and other deadly illicit drugs in Manitoba was a legitimate public policy response to a problem that appears to be growing rapidly out of control, it probably would have included cabinet representation from the federal government.

Instead, Liberal MP Robert Falcon-Ouellette – a political lightweight among his Manitoba caucus colleagues – was on hand at a press conference at the Manitoba legislature to tell us why battling the meth crisis is so important to his government.

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Not important enough, apparently, for the federal government to have cabinet representation on the Illicit Drug Task Force, which is also made up of Mayor Brian Bowman and Manitoba Health Minister Cameron Friesen. It was the first sign this was not a bona fide announcement. It came with no dollar figure and no detail whatsoever on how the city, the province and the federal government plan to tackle the meth crisis that’s gripping Winnipeg.