Mr. Speaker, tomorrow my constituent Petra Shulz will arrive in Ottawa hoping to deliver a message to the Minister of Health and to Parliament. She speaks for a network of Canadian mothers and families whose loved ones have died from opioid use or who could have hope of recovery.
I encourage all to view the heartbreaking messages of their children who were lost to opioids at momsstoptheharm.com. They remind us that every victim is somebody's son, daughter, brother or sister, somebody's someone. These mothers echo the NDP's ask, that after more than 2,000 overdose deaths in our country this past year, why is the government not declaring a national public health emergency? We must heed their call for expedited action on the opioid crisis, grant interim exemptions on all outstanding applications for supervised consumption services, initiate a national anti-stigma campaign, and launch a national advisory council modelled on Alberta's council.
So many lives depend on it.