Vote #16 on November 26th, 2013

C-2 An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act

That the motion be amended by deleting all the words after the word “That” and substituting the following:

“this house decline to give second reading to Bill C-2, an Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, because it:

( a) fails to reflect the dual purposes of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) to maintain and promote both public health and public safety;

( b) runs counter to the Supreme Court of Canada's decision in Canada v. PHS Community Services Society, which states that a Minister should generally grant an exemption when there is proof that a supervised injection site will decrease the risk of death and disease, and when there is little or no evidence that it will have a negative impact on public safety;

( c) establishes onerous requirements for applicants that will create unjustified barriers for the establishment of safe injection sites, which are proven to save lives and increase health outcomes; and

( d) further advances the Minister's political tactics to divide communities and use the issue of supervised injection sites for political gain, in place of respecting the advice and opinion of public health experts.”.

See context in the Debates.