Madam Chair, I want to give the parliamentary secretary another chance to answer the question posed by my colleague from Vancouver Kingsway, because he neatly sidestepped it.
First, no one in the NDP has made a claim that decriminalization is the only policy that will be a silver bullet to solve this issue.
Second, I remember the parliamentary secretary being present at the health research caucus earlier this year when experts from the field of mental health and addictions unanimously stated that decriminalization should absolutely be a tool the federal government employed as one part of a suite of programs and policies to combat this crisis.
Furthermore, the member for Vancouver Kingsway mentioned tackling this as a health issue and ensuring the supply of drugs people were addicted to were clean. That would address the parliamentary secretary's concern.
If he is not going to be in favour of decriminalization, is it the parliamentary secretary's position that the continued arrest of people for possession of illicit street drugs is the smart way going forward and is that his position for the 2019 election?