Mr. Chair, I would like to congratulate my hon. colleague from Vancouver East on a well-informed and passionate speech. Unlike many of us in the House, the hon. member has been working in the Downtown Eastside for several decades and was instrumental in establishing the first supervised injection site, so it would behoove us to listen carefully to her comments.
I want to pick up one of the threads she mentioned tonight, which is that we know addiction is a complex psychosocial physical illness. We know it is in the DSM-5 and is a recognized mental illness. By definition it is the compulsive and obsessive use of a substance regardless of the negative consequences. What that means is that the more negative consequences and experiences there are from it matters not. By the very nature of the disease, as well as what the medical literature tells us, criminalizing and jailing an addict is not inconsequential and is actually harmful to that person.
New Democrats have mentioned at least four ideas for the government tonight. We have said to declare a public health emergency under the Emergencies Act, sue opioid manufacturers and investigate criminal behaviour, sanction and make legal overdose prevention sites and to put significant new money into treatment.
Has my hon. colleague heard a single new idea from the Liberal side of the House? It is the Liberals' take-note debate. Have we heard one creative new idea come forward to stem what is obviously a looming crisis? The death rate has gone up every single year of the Liberal government and looks like it will go up again in 2018.