Thank you for that, Chair.
I guess that goes back to my point on what we say here. If a member decides that we're gaslighting and doesn't believe what Dan Mazier says, that's.... If we can have the discussions here at the table, I think that's a lot better.
I want to go back to the motion and HIV in general. If you think it's bad and we're blocking all this, this is a very personal matter to me in my riding. The town of Swan River is probably the epicentre. Everybody talks about Winnipeg. Doug, do you think you have problems? It has the highest per capita rate in the entire province, and it's been like that for years.
I commented a bit on this last meeting. Obviously, what we're doing is not working. There were over 500,000 needles distributed among a community of 4,000 in Swan River. Can you imagine that? The people who were distributing them were asking for sharps containers so people could put the needles in there after they used them.
Look at the crime severity index for Swan River two years ago. In 2019, it was one of the 10 best places to retire in Canada. It has now moved to having the highest crime severity index rating in all of Canada—a community of 4,000.
In your motion, you referred to “public awareness efforts, and intergovernmental coordination related to HIV prevention, care, and support services”. There were medical and public health individuals with lived experiences. Those people have gone through hell. That's why I wanted to talk about the opioid epidemic that's happening. It's happening in Manitoba.
I also want to talk about how we can move forward. Why were 500,000 needles distributed in a community of 4,000? Who is doing that? Who is okaying that?
Then we get to Winnipeg. The Liberal government, in 2017, maybe even in 2021, made a loophole in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. You talked about consumption sites and treatments. In section 56.1, there are exemptions, and then there's a class exemption for the provinces to develop their own treatment facilities. There are two federally approved sanctions in legislation that the health committee needs to look at if we want to address the opioid epidemic and consumption sites in this study.
That's why I asked the other day to include the opioid study. At least let's start having a conversation around treatment. I was asking for that and you shut that down. You absolutely said no to that, and I noticed the other day that you were saying, “Well, that's not right. Maggie actually commented last night on the late show that, no, that wasn't right.” Who is gaslighting here?
That's what happened here folks. We were trying to talk about this. This is very reasonable stuff.
With that, I will end.