Madam Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from Vancouver Kingsway for a thoughtful and passionate speech on the opioid use disorder crisis in Canada.
Nine hundred and fourteen people died last year in my province of British Columbia. In my riding of Victoria, dozens of people have died, while we watched the government take no action over the last year on this issue. I am delighted to hear the minister make commitments today. This is very personal. I know people whose family members have died as a consequence of inaction over the last while.
I would ask my colleague to elaborate a bit on what this national health emergency means and what the Emergencies Act might allow by way of powers. My colleague talked about the 38 recommendations from the health committee. He talked about recommendations from the City of Vancouver and in coroners' reports. If we have a crisis, which we do, I would ask the member what powers would be available to the government were it to trigger that?