Health  Mr. Speaker, our hearts are with all the families that have lost a loved one to this terrible crisis caused by a poisoned drug supply. The B.C. coroner has said that there is no evidence that safe supply has been implicated in any of these drug deaths. We have to use every tool

Business of Supply  Madam Speaker, I thank the member, as always, for his very poignant explanation of the importance of this mental health crisis in Canada. There is no disagreement that there need to be four pillars of a drug policy, including treatment. I was wondering if the member would help u

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the really important distinction, as the polarization of harm reduction versus treatment is extraordinarily unhelpful. We know people need access to treatment at the moment they are ready. However, we also know they need adequate aftercare so

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the member recognized that, in the agreement for the section 56 exemption, it is still not okay to use drugs in playgrounds or schools. Many municipalities are looking at expanding that with their bylaws, but at the moment that is still illegal. Wha

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, my condolences and my sympathies to the member for the truly sad situation in his family. Part of the transfers to the provinces and territories, $25 million to be precise, is for mental health and substance use. I think that the action plan will help respond to thi

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I will be sharing my time with the member for Sherbrooke. Before I begin my speech, I want to acknowledge that I am rising today in Ottawa, which is on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people, who have lived on this land since time immem

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I agree with the member opposite that people need hope and connection. The way they get that quite often is at a safe consumption site or with a safe supply prescriber. That is where they get the connection to get the hope and to get on a path to a better life. Does

Business of Supply  Mr. Speaker, I have been wanting to ask the Leader of the Opposition this question: Seeing that 46,000 overdoses have been reversed in the safe consumption sites, what would the Leader of the Opposition do in defunding them? How would he speak to those who have lost a loved one b

Health  Mr. Speaker, once again I will quote from Ben Perrin, the public safety and justice adviser to former prime minister Stephen Harper: There is no indication that prescribed safe supply is contributing to illicit drug deaths. Safer supply has been tested and found to be benef

Health  Mr. Speaker, it is impossible to bring one's loved ones home if they are dead. I am—

Health  Mr. Speaker, the toxic drug supply means that people in construction or in the mines are using once and dying. We have to move to a safer supply of drugs, as we have with alcohol, cannabis and the other ways people actually use substance to numb their pain. Former prime minister

Health  Mr. Speaker, Canadian drug policy and international drug policy have all four parts: prevention and education, harm reduction, treatment, and enforcement. We lived through 10 years of the Conservative government taking harm reduction out. We are now having to build back. As Ben P

Health  Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow the Conservatives to take us back to the failed ideology of the past. Our government will use every tool at our disposal to end this national public health crisis. Supporting a safer supply is just one of the evidence-based, comprehensive public healt

Health  Mr. Speaker, people have to stay alive long enough to get to treatment. People are dying because of the toxic, tainted drug supply. When people are on safe supply, the CMHA article from yesterday talked about how there is less drug use, fewer overdoses and less petty crime. This

Health  Mr. Speaker, we are pretty fed up with this fight against evidence-based programs that actually are saving lives. We cannot allow the Conservatives to take us back to the failed ideology of the past. Even Harper's adviser, Ben Perrin, thinks they are speaking nonsense. So just st