Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to all the important witnesses for your incredible testimony and all of your work.
Minister Williams, your government has had a significant growth in toxic drug deaths per capita, from 800 in 2019 to over 2,000 last year, the worst year on record, and now has a per capita rate that's almost on par with British Columbia.
Paul Wells just wrote in Substack the other day that the scale of the crisis in Edmonton and across Alberta makes it hard to be sure of success. He cited Deputy Chief Driechel. He has been in the Edmonton Police Service for 27 years, and he said, “It's worse than I've ever seen it.”
We've also seen your government close safe consumption sites. You've opened one new one since you formed government. You've cancelled five. You've closed two, and you plan to close three. The previous government had opened eight new ones and planned for two.
Do you support safe consumption sites and recognize the importance they have to save lives?