Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for Kelowna—Lake Country, a fellow British Columbian, for the part of her speech that centred on the opioid epidemic, which has affected our province the most out of any province in all of Canada. I agree with her that there was only a passing reference in the throne speech to it despite the scope of this epidemic.
The NDP has been saying for a number of years that the federal government should declare this a national health emergency. Recently, multiple health experts from across the country and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police called for decriminalization.
I wonder what the member's views are on the two policy ideas of declaring a national health emergency and decriminalizing possession of small amounts. Does she agree with the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police that this is something we should employ to try to get a handle on this epidemic and save the carnage of lives being lost every day?