The Opioid Crisis in Canada  Madam Chair, the toxic drug supply is taking lives. There has been a lot of talk tonight about the Portugal model. It has decriminalized the use of all drugs and unleashed a major public health campaign to tackle substance abuse, investing significantly in treatment and recovery.

The Opioid Crisis in Canada  Mr. Speaker, I will attempt to speak in French for the first time. I apologize for any mistakes I make. Health experts agree with the NDP that the government should be asked to use its powers under the Emergencies Act to declare a national public health emergency. This would, for example, allow the Minister of Health to designate overdose prevention sites as emergency clinics, thus making them legal and eligible for federal funding.

The Opioid Crisis in Canada  Mr. Speaker, the opioid crisis has ripped through families on Vancouver Island, where I live in B.C., and across the country. In British Columbia, since 2016, there have been close to 6,000 overdose deaths. This is thousands of British Columbians who are community members and family members, many of them young people like the woman the member spoke about in his speech.

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, it is great to see the cross-party support for this change. People in Saskatchewan need their tax money to go to the public services they rely on, like health care. Here at the federal level we also know that big corporations have ways of avoiding paying their taxes.

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, this is about the fair treatment of Saskatchewan in Confederation. Saskatchewan deserves to be treated equally with the other provinces, and it has been denied that. This also privileges one big corporation. I want to give a shout-out to the members of the Saskatchewan NDP, who have been really strong advocates on this issue and who pushed for these changes.

COVID-19 Protests  Mr. Speaker, when I talk to constituents, they are tired, frustrated and disheartened that we are still in this pandemic, but the vast majority of them are following public health guidelines. They are tired and fed up with people who refuse to wear masks, who refuse to follow public health orders and who are putting others at risk.

Health  Mr. Speaker, on southern Vancouver Island, primary care clinics have been forced to close because of understaffing, leaving residents without anywhere to turn when they are sick. Challenges finding a family doctor are not new, but after two years of the pandemic, critical staffing shortages and burnout have only gotten worse.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for mentioning the protest outside. I think it is important for all members to condemn the fascist and anti-Semitic symbols displayed by some. I hope the member will support the NDP's push to ban hate symbols. I would like to talk about some pieces of the bill and the many essential measures that are not included in the bill.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, so many seniors are struggling right now with the rising cost of living. I hear from them every day. It is the cost of food and medication, which is one of the many reasons we need a truly universal pharmacare program. I also hear from a ton of seniors who have just recently experienced clawbacks in the GIS.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member. I apologize for not being able to answer him in French. I think it is a bold idea. We need more bold ideas from the government. Unfortunately, it has a track record of big promises but no follow-through.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Madam Speaker, I agree. The federal government has the biggest role to play in addressing the housing crisis. Unfortunately, more and more Canadians find themselves unable to afford a home and pay rent, and the pandemic has made things worse. The PBO, the government's own watchdog, reported that the Liberals are failing on housing while patting themselves on the back for a job well done, and that the people with core housing need are worse off under the Liberals' national housing strategy.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Mr. Speaker, this bill does not offer any new bold solutions to the challenges we are facing: the pandemic and the omicron variant, the affordability crisis and rising inflation, the climate emergency and the devastating heat waves, fires and floods that have come with it. It is certainly not up to the task of addressing the housing crisis that is being felt so severely by people in my riding of Victoria.

Economic and Fiscal Update Implementation Act, 2021  Mr. Speaker, the cost of housing has skyrocketed, and I want to thank the member for bringing up the housing crisis. In my riding of Victoria, people are struggling. We need affordable rentals. We need housing that has rent geared to income. We need more co-op housing. We need home ownership to be within reach.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, health care is in crisis, and in my riding of Victoria, many of my constituents are struggling to access primary health care. There are 100,000 people in the capital regional district who do not have a family doctor, and we are losing multiple walk-in clinics as physicians retire or move on.

Resumption of Debate on Address in Reply  Madam Speaker, I want to thank the member for his speech and for bringing up the need for real climate action. Despite the government's promises, it has failed to take meaningful action on the climate crisis. The government promised to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies, but they actually increase those subsidies each year.