I'll apologize to Mr. Fisher. I did see him look across the floor and say, “Hi Dan,” mockingly. I thought it was mockingly; I could be wrong. Maybe he's just acknowledging the presence of our colleague from the NDP.
You know, my family lives every day with the fact that we're going to get a call one day that my brother won't be around, that he'll take one last dose....
Let me bring it back to 2008, when I was loading my bags into my vehicle to go speak at an event overseas, and my wife opened the front doors to our house and with tears said that her brother had been found dead from an overdose. He was not an addict. He didn't use drugs. He simply was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and somebody gave him something that was laced with fentanyl. That same person wiped his phone, so there was no evidence of who was there at the time. We don't know.
I apologize for moving this emotional motion, but it hits home. Given that I'm the shadow minister for mental health and suicide prevention, I sit with so many families who ask us to do something. I don't have the answers, but I don't believe that taxpayers' dollars should be going to fund these drugs. We should be doing everything in our power to make sure that we can get somebody into a bed for recovery. Recovery is always possible. Perpetuating somebody's addiction....
In British Columbia, I believe the wait time is 18 to 24 months. One mother came to me and asked, “Why is it that my son can get drugs, but I can't get him into treatment?” If they were wealthy or rich, then they could do that, but a lot of these people come from families that can't afford treatment. In 18 to 24 months, if her son is still alive....
We know what they're doing. They're taking these drugs, and they're selling them so that they can purchase.... Oftentimes, they're selling them to students so that they can purchase the higher dose of fentanyl. We have to do something.
I apologize to the witnesses, but after reading that letter, I had to say what I said. I've stood in the House so many times and talked about this. This government and my provincial government, we as leaders are failing Canadians when it comes to this. We have to be better.
I'll cede the floor to whoever's next. Thanks.