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House Hansard - 276

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
February 6, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 276 - Feb/6/24
Mr. Brad Vis (Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon, CPC)
  • Feb/6/24 10:05:57 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, at the direction of the Liberal government, the Correctional Service of Canada is offering the prison needle exchange program, or PNEP, in federal correctional institutions, effectively encouraging illicit drug use in prisons. Illicit drugs in federal institutions are contraband. Equally, any item used for injecting drugs is also contraband. The presence of needles for illicit drug use in correctional institutions presents a severe safety risk to both inmates and correctional officers. The already hazardous workplace of the correctional officer is made more dangerous by the presence of the PNEP, and the Canadian drugs and substances strategy should focus on helping Canadians recover from addiction and on receiving treatment, not on supporting these addictions. Therefore, petitioners in Mission—Matsqui—Fraser Canyon and surrounding ridings, who are Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to cancel the prison needle exchange program operations, to stop permitting the use of illicit drugs in Canadian prisons and to focus the efforts on helping inmates recover from their addictions through new treatment policies.
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Context: House Hansard - 276 - Feb/6/24
Mr. Brian Masse
  • Feb/6/24 11:49:53 a.m.
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Madam Speaker, I do not know about the validity of the statistics that were put before me, but the question, to me, is why the Conservatives voted against the RCMP and CBSA funding, and other initiatives, in the last budgetary moment. They created a special process in Parliament, where they itemized all of the votes. They specifically made us vote on those allocations that they now complain about, including those for prisons. That is a unique thing that I have not seen in my 20 years here. When we have done this before, one selects the things one supports and then one votes against the things one does not support. They voted against prison supports. They voted against RCMP supports. They voted against public safety supports. Why did they specifically create a parliamentary process to prove that they do not support those initiatives?
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