44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 8, 2022 10:00AM
- Feb/8/22 10:24:06 a.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, it is a huge honour to table this petition on behalf of residents of Cumberland, Courtenay, Parksville and Port Alberni.
The petitioners want to draw the attention of the House of Commons to the estimated 235,000 people in Canada who experience homelessness every year. Canada's commitment to reduce homelessness right now by 50% over 10 years would still leave 117,500 Canadians homeless each year. The petitioners are calling on the House of Commons to take immediate action by officially recognizing that housing is a human right, and to develop a plan to end and prevent homelessness in Canada.
103 words
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 11:02:38 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for her speech. It is great to see us working together. This started in the Saskatchewan legislature, led by the Saskatchewan NDP.
I met with Dr. Katharine Smart from the CMA yesterday. She cited that there are pre-existing shortages. We need $3.2 billion for 7,500 new doctors and nurses. We need $6 billion to end the wait-lists in our health care system. We have overworked, tired and exhausted health care workers, and it is corporations like this that are not paying their fair share.
Does the member agree that not only should Canadian Pacific pay its fair share, but those who have profited from COVID-19 and the pandemic and companies using tax havens to not pay their fair share of taxes should also be paying their fair share? I hope she agrees with me that they should.
150 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 11:56:16 a.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I really appreciate my colleague talking about the deficiencies when it comes to health care transfers to the provinces.
As I said earlier, I met with the Canadian Medical Association's Dr. Smart yesterday. She cited that $6 billion is needed right now just to end waiting lists. We know that health care workers are stressed. They are tired. We know there is money out there, and that corporations are not paying their fair share, whether it be Canadian Pacific in Saskatchewan or those that are using tax havens or loopholes not to pay their fair share of taxes.
Would my colleague agree that the Liberal-Conservative coalition to protect large corporations needs to end, and that large corporations that have profited from the pandemic, that are moving their money outside the country, and that have CEOs who are not paying their fair share of taxes, need to pay their fair share? Then we could have doctors and nurses, and the services that all Canadians need to protect themselves and their families.
174 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 12:27:23 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for his important speech. As he outlined, this is a company that had $3 billion in profits last year. It paid taxes for 100 years and now, because it sees that there is a loophole, it wants to go back and claw back $300 million. This would have a huge impact on education services and health services in the province of Nova Scotia.
Could my colleague speak about the trend we are seeing happening right now, with big corporations putting greed ahead of the public good when it comes to corporate and social responsibility, and how governments need to stand up and make sure that those corporations are paying their fair share?
118 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 1:20:28 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, I have heard this member talk about the NDP voting against the Liberals' omnibus bill when they were going to impose some taxes, a very small amount, on the 1%, but they failed in that bill to make sure that Amazon, Google and Facebook would pay their fair share. They failed to close tax havens and end CEO stock loopholes. We have a health care system that is starving right now. We have seen corporate taxes go from 28% to 15% under the Liberal-Conservative coalition to protect the super-wealthy.
Will my colleague start telling Canadians the truth? They promised not to table omnibus bills, but they did, and then they misled Canadians through this story that they are taxing the super-wealthy. Will he work with the NDP on closing tax havens, ending CEO stock loopholes and making sure the ultra-rich and super-wealthy corporations pay their fair share?
154 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 6:43:36 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, since the government was elected, 25,000 lives have been lost in this country due to a poisoned drug supply. There was no mention of this in the Speech from the Throne, and nothing in the mandate letter to the health minister. It ranked sixth in the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions's mandate letter.
The courageous answer to this crisis is full decriminalization, regulated safe supply, record expungement, treatment on demand by a public health system, prevention and education. These are all things recommended by the minister's expert task force on substance use.
I have to ask the minister a question. We have had applications from B.C., Toronto and Vancouver for section 56(1) decriminalization exemptions sitting on her desk since last June.
This has had the formal support of council, public health officials and Vancouver police chief Adam Palmer. Hundreds of people have died in the city while the government dithers.
When is she going to give an answer to their applications? When is she going to put the expert task force's recommendations into place? Will she support an NDP bill that is a blueprint and a road map for her to take action on this crisis, which is not a crisis but an emergency? It is a national health emergency, and she needs to call it that. This government needs to act like it is an emergency, as they did with COVID-19. Where are the Liberals? Lives are at stake.
It cannot be about votes. This cannot be about votes and getting re-elected. We were elected to do the right thing. When it comes to saving lives, that is the right thing to do. She needs to act now.
290 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
Mr. Speaker, I will be splitting my time with the good member for Edmonton Griesbach.
Last year, the government's Health Canada expert task force on substance use, with 18 esteemed experts in this field, came together. They cited in their recommendations and report that bold actions are urgently needed, including decriminalization and the development of a single public health framework to regulate all substances in the expansion of safer supply. This is in response to the 25,000 lives that have been lost.
The task force was mindful of five core issues: stigma, disproportionate harms to populations experiencing structural inequity, harms from the illegal drug market, the financial burden on the health and criminal justice systems, and the unaddressed underlying conditions.
The Prime Minister, just last week, agreed that this is a health issue and not a criminal issue. He had already told the nation, before calling an unnecessary election, that his government would be informed by the recommendations of this expert task force. In May 2021, we heard from the experts and were informed by its nearly unanimous recommendations. I urge all members to consider these recommendations, which mirror the measures proposed in the bill I tabled, Bill C-216, which is a blueprint for a truly health-based approach to substance use.
We agree on all sides of this House to consider the advice of public health officials in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. It is now time to act on the advice of experts about the overdose crisis, which is killing increasing numbers of Canadians from coast to coast to coast. It is killing 20 people a day.
We continue to hear from medical health officers from all provinces and territories, as well as our new good friend, the member for Yukon, who has been advocating that we tackle this issue. In our larger cities we hear it from law enforcement and from frontline workers who struggle daily to save lives in the midst of this overdose crisis.
We hear the same advice from those with lived experience, those who have used illicit drugs or continue to do so. There are many reasons, including trauma in their lives, poverty, homelessness or addiction. We have also heard from thousands of family members who have lost loved ones.
On Thursday, we will hear from the chief coroner of British Columbia. She reports on the numbers of overdose deaths in my home province for 2021. While I dread her report, I welcome it as more overwhelming evidence to act.
The expert task force recommendations are straightforward and common sense. They are evidenced-based and rooted in the fundamental need to save lives. It is harm reduction.
The expert task force found that criminalization of simple possession causes harms to Canadians and needs to end. These are not my words; the words come from this body of esteemed experts, gathered together by the government to guide the actions needed to save lives.
It has been more than nine months and hundreds of deaths since the City of Vancouver applied for a section 56 decriminalization exemption with the support of its medical health officer and the chief of police. This is the exact same process Vancouver used to get the first supervised consumption site almost 20 years ago. The federal government of the day backed the city against provincial opposition, as the need was so great. That took courage and political will, which is what we need right now. The need is more dire today, if that is possible, but for whatever reason, the Vancouver application, now joined by applications by British Columbia and the City of Toronto, sits on the minister's desk.
The government was informed by its expert task force that “As part of decriminalization, the Task Force recommends that criminal records from previous offences related to simple possession be fully expunged.” This should be complete, automatic deletion, and cost-free. Simply because those Canadians are burdened with criminal records for simple possession of illicit substances, they often face insurmountable barriers to employment, housing, child custody and travel.
The bill I have tabled calls for a national plan to expand access to harm reduction, treatment and recovery services across Canada. Importantly, this plan must include ensuring low-barrier access to a regulated safe supply for users, instead of leaving the drug supply to gangs that are driven to maximize profits at the expense of lives. We must support the domestic production and regulation of a safer supply that is readily available to users.
Unfortunately, even though these common sense reforms are supported on a daily basis by public health professionals, law enforcement, media, frontline workers, substance users and their families, they have been given very little attention by the government. This overdose crisis is not identified in the mandate letter to the Minister of Health. It is barely mentioned in the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions's letter. There is nothing in the Speech from the Throne.
I ask all members of this House to take the politics out of the overdose crisis. This crisis must be treated with urgency. Slow-walking essential reforms through protracted political and bureaucratic deliberation, or worse, ignoring them altogether, will only result in more preventable deaths.
878 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 7:43:25 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Speaker, that is a great question. I appreciate my colleague's bringing up that point.
Not only do we have fentanyl on our streets, we have carfentanil. Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl. It is 4,000 times more potent than heroin and 10,000 times more potent than morphine. It is killing people.
People who use drugs and people who are addicted to drugs need a regulated safe supply; otherwise, they are going to die. That is why we are here. That is what my bill is about. It is about addressing that and giving a response to that.
We need to decriminalize so that people are not using drugs while they are home alone and are not using harm-reduction supports, but they also need access to a safe supply. It is time for us to have courage and not worry about just votes and getting re-elected. We were elected to do the right thing: to save lives in a crisis like this. There were 25,000 lives lost in the last six years.
I am urging the government and all members to come together to listen to the expert witnesses, the health experts, the police chiefs and the frontline service workers. This is what they are calling for.
215 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 7:45:53 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Speaker, my colleague has been at ground zero of this fight from the beginning. They fought for Insite, and not a single person has died at Insite in its 20 years. It is remarkable
It is because politicians are so worried about votes. They are so worried about getting re-elected instead of doing the right thing. That would be my answer. I also believe that these lives do not matter to those politicians. It has to change, and people are holding their politicians to account when they are ignoring expert recommendations from their own top public health officials, from their own police chiefs and from their own family members.
No one is untouched by this, no one in this country, especially in the province I come from. There is not an MP in this House who has not received a phone call from a constituent who has lost a mom or a dad or a daughter or a son. Everybody has been impacted.
It has been six years and 25,000 lives. Why are we not responding in the way we responded to COVID? We have demonstrated that we can respond.
I want to thank my colleague, and I will work with her and all members of this House to move quickly, because 20 people are going to die today, and more tomorrow. Every day that we wait on implementing these common-sense reforms, people will die.
239 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 9:28:53 p.m.
- Watch
Madam Chair, one thing the member talked about, which I was glad to hear him say, is that this is a health issue, not a criminal issue. He recognizes that. However, in this country today, the personal possession of drugs is still a criminal issue. We heard this from the member for Vancouver Centre, and she said the same thing: The police are not enforcing it. People who use drugs are worried about their drugs being taken. They are not getting harm reduction supports.
Why are we here? It is because people are using drugs and there is a poisoned drug supply. They are not getting out and getting the help they need, and people are dying. It is a war zone right now in many communities.
The member says to do this when communities are ready, but British Columbia is ready. It is our home province; he and I share it. It has asked for an exemption, but the Liberal government has not responded. It has been seven or eight months and this is still sitting on the desk of the minister.
Does my colleague support decriminalization or not?
190 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- Feb/8/22 9:47:53 p.m.
- Watch
Mr. Chair, first, I want to thank my friend and colleague from Northumberland—Peterborough South for his passion and compassion.
He talked about the lack of support for treatment. Clearly, that is an issue. I am really glad to hear Conservatives advocating for that. About 15% of people who are suffering with opioid disorder, with addiction, want to get treatment, but people cannot access treatment if they are dead. We are dealing with a poisoned drug supply.
I am glad to hear Liberals talk about a safe supply, but they need to scale it up rapidly. We have heard from the experts that the politically courageous answer is full decriminalization, regulated safe supply, record expungement, treatment on demand via the public health system, prevention and education.
These are things that are going to make a lot of us uncomfortable. It is going against societal norms, but as my colleague says, we have to do things differently. Is he willing to have the courage to step out and do things differently to save lives? This cannot be about votes. We got elected to do the right thing and listen to experts.
Clearly, people are dying. With 20 people dying a day, we need to move rapidly.
206 words
All Topics
- Hear!
- Rabble!
- add
- star_border
- share
- menumenu
- notificationsnotifications
- home
- mailmail
- searchsearch
