Yes, so this is what you did with COVID, and it's disturbing to hear this. Canadians are dying and lives are being shattered every day because of a contaminated drug supply. You responded to COVID in a very different way. The lives of over 30,000 Canadians have been lost. It's the number one killer in unnatural death in my home province of British Columbia. In my community, the numbers are skyrocketing because of the toxic drug supply.
We know that the leader of the Conservative Party wants to double down on the failed war on drugs rather than listen to experts in health and law enforcement and people with lived experience, but your government, Minister, says the approach to the toxic drug crisis is different. You're sitting on clear recommendations from your own expert task force on substance use. You're in that cabinet. To turn the tide on this crisis, you need to move past the stigma and the failed status quo.
Minister, across the country, life-saving supervised consumption sites are struggling to meet the needs of their communities because of a lack of adequate funding. Has PSPC discussed with the Public Health Agency of Canada or Health Canada the possibility of bulk purchasing harm reduction supplies to help reduce operating costs for these services?