Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Alberta for her presentation on the bill.
I find it hard to find anyone in my city of Edmonton who sides with the position she is taking. Some years ago, the Conservatives brought forward a bill in response to a court direction that they actually take action to establish safe injection sites, because in the opinion of the court, having heard experts, they actually save lives.
The Canadian Medical Association's Dr. Haggie, then the president, in responding to that court decision said:
While for some this is an ideological issue, for physicians it's about the autonomy to make medical decisions based on evidence, and the evidence shows that supervised injection reduces the spread of infectious diseases and the incidence of overdose and death.
Dr. Stan Houston, who is a renowned doctor in Edmonton, strongly supports this. He says there are lots of reasons to support safe injection sites, including reducing hepatitis C and HIV.
More than 87 organizations in my city have called for the federal government to support them on establishing these safe injection sites, so I am wondering what evidence the member has to show, if she thinks it should be evidence-based, against the establishment of safe injection sites.