---
title: "Alex Lawson proposes 200-bed addiction recovery centre on Greenbelt land"
description: "Ottawa mayoral candidate Alex Lawson has released a drug recovery plan that calls for a 200-bed facility on leased National Capital Commission land in the Greenbelt."
canonical_url: "https://voche.me/on/ottawa-2026/news/lawson-drug-recovery-plan-2026-10-09"
last_updated: "2026-10-10T04:05:49.919Z"
---

Ottawa mayoral candidate [Alex Lawson](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/alex-lawson) released a detailed drug recovery plan on October 9, 2026, with a 200-bed addiction recovery centre on leased land in the Greenbelt as its main element. CTV News reported the plan's details.

Lawson calls the proposed facility the HopeWorks Recovery Campus. His platform says it would be built in two phases of 100 beds each, on land leased from the National Capital Commission. According to the platform, the province would pay for treatment, residents would stay up to ten months, and they would train in food and agriculture, building maintenance or the construction trades. His platform says residents would leave with a job, a place to live and a year of aftercare. No new property tax is proposed, with the City contributing fast-tracked approvals, transit access and existing addiction contracts redirected to results-based funding.

Lawson's platform gives a reason for placing the facility in the Greenbelt: he says it would avoid pushback from residents who would oppose such a centre in their neighbourhood. The Greenbelt is owned by the NCC and other federal agencies and has strict rules on development across its more than 20,000 hectares.

CTV News reported Lawson as saying Ottawa has about 38 withdrawal management beds for a city of more than one million people, with only 12 of those being medical. His platform says people leaving detox without a clear next step face their highest risk of dying after they leave.

The plan also includes police enforcement against drug dealers and public drug use, with treatment conditions attached to tickets. Lawson's platform proposes a sobering unit inside Ottawa Police Service headquarters on Elgin Street, staffed with a nurse, where paramedics and police could bring intoxicated people. His platform also proposes expanding the province's Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hub program, requiring nurse or pharmacist supervision for anyone taking prescribed opioids, and limiting the supply of drugs used to treat opioid use disorder to prevent reselling. Naloxone would remain widely available under the plan, CTV News reported.

Other mayoral candidates have their own proposals on the same issue. CTV News reported that incumbent mayor [Mark Sutcliffe](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/mark-sutcliffe)'s public safety plan includes expanding the non-police Alternative Neighbourhood Crisis Response (ANCHOR) program and revoking business licences from so-called pill mills in areas such as Chinatown, Centretown and Lowertown, as well as exploring mandatory care in specific cases. Candidates [Jeff Leiper](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/jeff-leiper) and [Neil Saravanamuttoo](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates/neil-saravanamuttoo) have both promised to expand ANCHOR citywide. Saravanamuttoo's platform says he would provide same-day access to detox and recovery beds. Leiper's platform would tie future ANCHOR growth to increases in the police budget.

Voting day is Monday, October 26. An advance voting day is Friday, October 16. Fourteen candidates are running for mayor of Ottawa. Their profiles are at [voche.me/on/ottawa-2026/candidates#mayor](/on/ottawa-2026/candidates#mayor).

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