Health committee  Yes, I appreciate that. My concern on this issue has grown out of the research that I've done the last several years. I spent most of that time, particularly in my last project, talking to people whose lives have been devastatingly impacted by the criminal justice system, by addictions and by substance use.

Health committee  That was my answer. Thank you.

Health committee  I think we need to mainstream what I would describe as safe places for people to use drugs. Former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi said that his concern when he left the mayoral office was they only had one supervised consumption site. Where you have one, that's where you get a concentration of people.

Health committee  In terms of British Columbia, one of the things the province has done really well is creating a large number, more than anywhere in Canada, of safe places for people to use at the provincial level, and that's when we've had a supportive provincial government. When we don't have that, in provinces like Alberta and Ontario, then funding is the chokehold against supervised consumption sites, so even though they get approved, if they're not funded, they are not going to be effective.

Health committee  Your leader said that. Your leader said safe supply is killing people.

Health committee  No.

Health committee  It's a shocking, unethical and false allegation. When you cast aspersions in a setting like this, where you're protected from criminal and civil liability, and you don't give anyone you're making allegations against an opportunity to respond, it's a very dangerous combination. I recently watched a podcast on McCarthyism, and it reminds me of that, if you're going to start casting aspersions about people.

Health committee  I would just say please look at this with fresh eyes. This is not an ideological issue. We need to follow the the best available evidence to depoliticize the issue. Why are you in government if it's not for the benefit of Canadians? This has to be about saving lives, not about following the polls or anything else.

Health committee  I already answered your question about that. Of course not. I'm a law professor, so no.

Health committee  No. I'm a law professor.

Health committee  I interviewed those people for my research, though.

Health committee  That's not an area I specifically study, but I can comment on what I know in the context of this committee's work on the unregulated drug crisis. First off, generally, we know misinformation spreads more rapidly than truth. Likewise, corrections or responses are also very slow in coming, if at all.

Health committee  Misinformation on a pressing public health issue like this absolutely is killing Canadians. It is fomenting opposition to what we know to be life-saving medical interventions, things like supervised consumption sites. I think it's incredibly disingenuous for one of your colleagues on the committee to claim, without being very clear, that it's part of a tool box, whether the Conservative Party supports it or not.

Health committee  There's a role the media has to play. There's a role that politicians have to play. Ultimately, we're in a climate that's unlike any I've experienced before. I remember the days when if you had facts and credible evidence to support a policy, that would persuade people. We're living in a post-truth world.

Health committee  No.