Mr. Speaker, this is probably the last comment I will make in the debate because I believe the parliamentary secretary is the last speaker. I would like to thank the members who participated in this very important debate tonight. I hope it brings some greater attention to and understanding of the terrible crisis in the downtown eastside around poverty, HIV-AIDS and the situation facing injection drug users in particular. There are many issues involved.
There is something that I would like to ask the parliamentary secretary. I guess I wonder what will have changed as a result of tonight. I want to be as positive as I can. I hope that as a result of tonight's debate the government has listened very carefully to what has been brought forward.
I want to ask the parliamentary secretary if he might say something about having a better understanding of the importance of harm reduction and whether the government will acknowledge that additional resources are needed for treatment, housing, poverty alleviation and community development. In my mind, that is not questionable, because otherwise we would not have a crisis.
Finally, would the parliamentary secretary acknowledge the incredible broad support that there is for Insite in the downtown eastside? No one tonight has said that the support is unanimous, by the way, but in that community and in Vancouver it is very high. There is about 73% support.
I want to ask the parliamentary secretary if the government will really consider that. Will it move off its political agenda, recognize the incredible importance of the work that Insite is doing and allow it to continue to operate beyond its temporary permit?