Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen says it will take a joint provincial-national strategy to deal with the growing problem of opioid addiction.

Goertzen will be in Ottawa tomorrow for a national summit on the matter. The issue has intensified in recent years due to the increasing presence of drugs like fentanyl and the rising number of deaths due to overdoses.

He says it's very important that Ottawa and the provinces combine their efforts.

"There's certainly things we can do on a provincial level. some of that is education, some of that is ensuring we have better information, some of it is making sure we have the right kinds of treatment for people dealing with opiate addiction, and of course some of it is enforcement," says Goertzen. "but there is a national scope to this as well. some of the opiate problem has to do with legal prescriptions and over-prescribing, but there is also some coming from other countries, China for example. so that needs a national lense."

Goertzen adds Canada also needs a uniform reporting system for overdoses so health ministers can get an accurate perspective on the problem so they can develop an informed solution.