Mr. Speaker, public health experts across Canada are clear that supervised consumption sites save lives and connect people to treatment, recovery and support, and yet, in Ontario, the Conservative government is cutting supervised consumption sites. In Alberta, the Conservative government is closing Calgary's only such service, despite the fact that thousands of overdoses have been reversed there without a single recorded death.
Frontline workers, physicians and public health researchers warn that shutting these services would not end substance use. Instead, they warn it would increase overdose deaths, push drug use further into public spaces and place greater strain on already overburdened emergency services, hospitals and law enforcement.
At a time when families and communities are grieving profound loss, Canadians expect leadership from the federal government grounded in evidence, compassion and public health. We have to strengthen the full continuum of care, not weaken it. Lives depend on it.