Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has tabled a motion in the House of Commons calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to reject requests from Montreal and Toronto to decriminalize illicit drugs.
The motion, introduced on May 9, also calls on the government to deny “any active or future requests from provinces, territories and municipalities” seeking federal approval to make hard drugs legal in their jurisdiction.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr. Poilievre recounted his visit to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside three years ago, saying he was “shocked and surprised” at the “carnage” active drug addiction had wreaked on the community.
“We know that this Downtown Eastside was an experiment brought in by the NDP, municipal, and provincial governments. But it was an experiment that the prime minister saw and said needed to be expanded right across the country,” Mr. Poilievre said.
He also noted the expansion of homeless tent encampments across many Canadian cities, even in cities like Halifax, Nova Scotia, where drugs are not decriminalized, and linked them to the government’s policy on drugs.
“Every Canadian knows of such an encampment in their community, even though nine years ago, it was unthinkable,” he said.
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Mr. Poilievre questioned companies creating a safe supply of drugs like heroin and noted that thousands of people in B.C. have died from overdoses since 2016.
The Tory leader also claimed that doctors and companies were making money from the ongoing drug crisis, particularly those behind safe supply drugs.
“These are the companies that are actually making the money and intimidating opponents of their plan. This is turning into a gigantic self-licking ice cream cone, Mr. Speaker, one that needs to end but is in the service of moneymaking and not of the public,” he said.
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya'ara Saks asked Mr. Poilievre why he has not met with the group Moms Stop the Harm, an advocacy group that represents families impacted by overdose harms and deaths.
Mr. Poilievre stated that he had met with families affected by the crisis and said, “That minister and the NDP government in BC have perpetuated the harm because the apparatus of corporate pharmaceutical and activist groups that are profiting off of this crisis have kept it going.”
Bloc Québécois MP Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay noted that the motion spoke of legalization and not decriminalization, saying there is a difference between the two terms.
Mr. Poilievre, however, stated there was little difference in practice, saying, “In BC people were allowed to use meth, crack, heroin and other hard drugs, in hospitals, on public transit, in parks with children, it was 100 percent legal. You can call it what you like, but that is what legalization means.”
NDP MP Gord Johns echoed the statements of Ms. Saks, questioning why Mr. Poilievre had not met with Moms Stop the Harm and argued that mothers “know the danger of the toxic drug supply better than anybody.”
Thursday’s motion comes as the provincial government in B.C. recently announced a major policy change on decriminalization, asking the federal government to change the prince’s decriminalization rules to stop public drug use. Ms. Saks announced on May 7 Ottawa has accepted B.C.’s request.
The proposed change would stop addicts from using drugs in public areas like parks, coffee shops, or on public transit.
Despite the U-turn, cities like Toronto have expressed an interest in pursuing the same policy as B.C. and legalizing simple possession. Ontario Premier Doug Ford, however, said he was against the move and would fight any attempt to legalize drugs in the province.
The vote on Mr. Poilievre’s motion is set to take place on May 21. Such motions are non-binding but can exert pressure on the government if they garner significant MP support.
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