Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister Bennett and all the officials, for appearing today. Thanks for the hard work that all of you are doing.
Mr. Chair, I would like to save the last two minutes of my six minutes for Mr. Morrice to have a chance for a question, if you'd be kind enough to help me with that.
Minister Bennett, I'm certainly very happy to see the B.C. exemption. I know you agree with me that the toxic drug crisis is not a “B.C.-only” problem. My constituency of the Yukon still has among the most per capita deaths in the toxic drug crisis. It's a crisis that touches communities across the country—families, parents, children, indigenous and racialized people, and young people everywhere. I believe the agreement is a big step in the right direction.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the potential for decriminalization of personal possession in other jurisdictions in Canada and your thoughts on a future national approach.
Particularly, have other jurisdictions already expressed an interest in pursuing decriminalization of personal possession in their regions? Can you update us on which ones?
Maybe I'll stop there and let you speak to that.