44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 18, 2023 10:00AM
- May/18/23 10:09:33 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I present today a petition signed by many people from Winnipeg. Recognizing the exceptional growth of the Indo-Canadian community in Canada, and in my home province of Manitoba, they are looking at ways in which we can increase the number of international flights between Canada and India, as cited in the past by me. They would love to see something direct from Winnipeg to Amritsar at the very least. The people who are signing these petitions are recognizing the growth of the community and the need to have more international flights. They are appealing not only to the Government of Canada but to the different international airlines and the Winnipeg International Airport.
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- May/18/23 10:11:55 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all questions be allowed to stand.
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- May/18/23 1:02:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, we are hearing a lot about stats and numbers. The one that really sinks in for me personally is the fact that we have seen reversed overdoses through safe consumption sites, to the tune of over 45,000 since 2017. Let us think about the profound impact that has had on thousands of lives. That is the number that comes to my mind. It is a very real and tangible number. All one needs to do is listen to what people near safe consumption sites have to say and what the first responders and the many different experts are saying.
A number of years ago, when I was sitting with third party status, we had a big debate about consumption sites. The reason we were debating them then was that the Conservative Party wanted to shut down Insite, a consumption site located in downtown east Vancouver. They wanted to shut it down. If it had not been for a Supreme Court of Canada decision, they might have been successful at shutting it down. Because the Supreme Court gave a wake-up call to Steven Harper, ultimately that site was able to survive.
If we take a look at how that site came to be, I think it amplifies or exemplifies why it is that we need to recognize that it is not just about one government alone. It takes a community. Individuals, the province, the municipality and first responders all came to the table and articulated a wide spectrum of reasons and rationale as to why consumption sites are important. That happened many years ago. It was about two decades ago. What we saw was that Steven Harper attempted to shut it down. He was the prime minister, and he attempted to shut it down. That is—
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/18/23 1:05:50 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the then prime minister was unsuccessful.
Now we will take a look at the current leader of the Conservative Party. I have argued in the past that his party is more to the right. It is about as extreme as one can get with respect to the right wing, if we listen to some of the things Conservatives say. Just yesterday, they were being accused of misrepresentation of facts. Once again, what we see is opposition parties outside of the Conservatives, and the government, correcting the opposition.
A previous question to my colleague suggested that we are politicizing it. Is that really true? Members should read the motion and listen to some of the speeches. We have had several Conservatives stand up, and what are they saying? They are following the lead of their leader. I printed out what their leader said. Here is how he started off his comments in moving the motion. He stated, “After eight years of the Prime Minister, everything feels broken. Life costs more. Work does not pay. Housing costs have doubled. The Prime Minister divides to control the people.” Other members have stood up and said the same thing. Like a bunch of lemmings and seals, they follow suit and support whatever it is the Conservative leader says. Facts do not mean anything.
An hon. member: Not true.
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux: Yes, it is true, Madam Speaker.
At the end of the day, we need to recognize the impact this is having in our communities. Even without the provincial government, the federal government worked with Sunshine House in Manitoba so we would have a mobile overdose prevention unit for the city of Winnipeg. I could talk about areas in Winnipeg North, like Point Douglas and others, where there is a real and tangible need with respect to the impacts this has on real people. Conservatives want to throw all of it away, even though they know full well that it has been successful in saving lives. They try to tie other things to it in order to simplify it in one way and complicate it in another for their bumper stickers. That is where their concern lies.
The following quotes from Ben Perrin are interesting. Many of the current Conservatives may not know who Ben Perrin is. They can do a quick Google search and will find he was a senior policy adviser to the Prime Minister's Office when Stephen Harper was the prime minister. He dealt with issues like public safety, immigration and justice. He was the primary adviser to Stephen Harper.
This is what Ben Perrin has to say about today's Conservative Party: “[They are] rehashing Conservative, war-on-drugs tropes that have been long since discredited and have been found to be not only ineffective but costly and deadly.” He also stated, “There is no indication that prescribed safe supply is contributing to illicit drug deaths.”
Members will love this one from Ben Perrin, published in The Hill Times:
...no public figure should use real human misery as the backdrop for a political pitch. If he insisted on doing so, how much better it would it have been if he’d stayed a night in the tent city, and talked to the people who live there. That way, he could have told them how he would improve their lives, and perhaps gain a better understanding of their problems. Using them as props to peddle his snake oil was disgraceful.
That is from Ben Perrin, a significant policy adviser under Stephen Harper.
We have things like the Supreme Court of Canada and even top Conservatives and advisers, real people. We have law agencies. We have other jurisdictions and levels of government, like the Province of B.C. Do the Conservatives understand everything that has gone into place in order to make those consumption sites a reality? It is not just that the federal government says it is going to pop some here and there. There is a great deal of effort that is put into these sites, which are located in different places in Canada.
Let there be no doubt, as I started off my comments, that there were 45,000-plus instances where we have actually seen a reverse, when someone was literally dying, and because of their getting medical attention, they were able to reverse that overdose. It has saved thousands of lives, and the Conservative Party wants to get rid of them. That is what they are saying today, then they say there are other aspects they want to invest in. The government is already investing in those. The Government of Canada is working with provinces, municipalities and other stakeholders to ensure that, as much as possible, there is a coordinated approach to dealing with what are very serious issues.
I only wish I had enough time to be able to talk about the impacts, whether they are on the individual who is addicted, the family members, the communities or the many different systems. This is very much a health issue, and it needs to be treated as such. Individuals need to be supported, and this government, with the co-operation of at least some of the opposition parties, will be able to continue to move in that direction.
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- May/18/23 1:14:35 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the member is looking for a hard and fast number. What I know and feel very confident in is that thousands of lives have been saved, not just for a 24-hour period of time. What we hear from the Conservatives is that those lives do not matter. We—
An hon. member: No one is saying that.
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux: That is what they are saying. They are saying to shut down the consumption sites.
Some hon. members: Oh, oh!
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- May/18/23 1:15:11 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, if the Conservatives are all that offended, they can stand up and say they will support the consumption sites. If they are not prepared to say that, they should bite their tongues.
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- May/18/23 1:16:17 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, that is one of the reasons why I say that a part of this is recognizing that it is just not the federal government alone. That is what I like about Insite. With Insite, what we saw was the Province of British Columbia, the City of Vancouver and Ottawa working with many different stakeholders, making sure that we would be able to have a successful consumption site. It has been exceptionally successful over the last couple of decades.
There is a need to go beyond that, because we can talk about health treatment. That is why we have seen a national government invest in mental health and give generational support, somewhere close to $200 billion over the next 10 years, so that we will be able to have a quality health care system. It is very much a health care issue. We have a national government that is investing billions of dollars in housing and supporting provinces and being able to provide appropriate housing.
There are all sorts of—
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- May/18/23 1:18:21 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, the government has stepped up in working with the different stakeholders. We deal with prevention, enforcement, treatment and harm reduction. We are working the best we can, not only from a financial point of view but also from a legislative point of view, in order to save lives and do the right thing.
I am still waiting for one Conservative to stand up and say they actually support consumption sites.
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