Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Victoria for his excellent work on this issue when he was our party's health critic.
A piece of federal legislation called the Emergencies Act permits the declaration of a public welfare emergency when one of two situations exists. The first is if a province is experiencing a problem that is so serious and severe that it overwhelms its own ability to deal with it. The second situation is when an issue affects more than one province across the country. It is the latter situation that is clearly the case in Canada right now. All provinces across this country are experiencing problems with the opioid overdose crisis.
There are a number of extraordinary powers that would be given to Canada's top doctor under the Emergencies Act were the government to declare a public welfare emergency. There are two in particular. The act would allow the flow of emergency funds commensurate with the emergency without having to go through this process in the House. Second and most important, the act would allow the government to open emergency hospitals or clinics, for example, if a disease was spreading across this country and we needed mobile units immediately.
The overdose prevention sites that are really currently operating against the law right now would be deemed legal were the government to declare a public welfare emergency and cities across this country could open those up today and start saving lives today.
The Liberal government will not do it and I have no idea why it will not.