SoVote

Decentralized Democracy

House Hansard - 312

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
May 9, 2024 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 312 - May/9/24
Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)
  • May/9/24 11:34:30 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear the Conservatives have woken up to the poison drug crisis in this country. When it comes to solutions, the reality is that Alberta has already done everything that is being called for in the motion, and Alberta has the largest number of deaths per capita in the country. Will the member meet with moms who have lost their kids to poison drugs so we can get some real solutions to a real crisis?
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Context: House Hansard - 312 - May/9/24
Mr. Gord Johns (Courtenay—Alberni, NDP)
  • May/9/24 11:51:14 a.m.
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Mr. Speaker, 42,000 people have died from the toxic drug crisis, which is more than the Canadians who died in World War II. That is not meeting the moment. Spending less than 1% of what we spent in response to COVID-19 is not meeting the moment. Portugal had over 1,000 people die from their drug crisis. It went from 250 people to 35,000 people on morphine in two years. It engaged the military and built labs. It built treatment centres so that people can get treatment on demand, year-long treatment. It spent money on recovery. Yes, it turned it into a health-based issue because it is a health issue, and it stopped criminalizing people. The government says that it wants to integrate it and coordinate it, with a compassionate approach. Where is the plan? Where are the timelines? Where are the resources to get behind it? Why has the government not declared a national public health emergency? Why?
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Context: House Hansard - 312 - May/9/24
Mr. Gord Johns
  • May/9/24 12:57:03 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I wanted to learn about this issues, because it is causing so much harm in my home community and I am so deeply impacted by it as well. I travelled the country, going to 13 different cities. I met with moms at very stop and at every stop, they said the same thing: That we needed to listen to the experts and that this needed to be grounded in evidence. They want the government to act like this is a national health emergency, to declare a public health emergency and to reinstate the expert task force. We have not had a summit, a first ministers' meeting, on this crisis; 42,000 people have died. We have had an auto theft summit. I am not saying that is not an important issue, but clearly this is a health emergency. Where is the emergency action from the Liberals? What did the moms say about the Conservatives? They want to meet with the Conservative leader. He is afraid to look them in the eye and hear the truth. He is afraid because he knows what he is doing is immoral, the disinformation he is spreading. He knows it is not grounded in evidence. The moms have the evidence; their kids are dead.
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Context: House Hansard - 312 - May/9/24
Hon. Kerry-Lynne Findlay
  • May/9/24 1:34:55 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I categorically reject the premise of the member's question, and I resent the implications. We are talking about human beings. We are talking about children. We are talking about mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who are at risk. We are talking about a crisis of opioid and other drug overdose deaths in this country. I am from a province where it is so out of control that the provincial government has had to come back to the federal Liberal government to say, “Put a circle around it because it is chaos.”
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Context: House Hansard - 312 - May/9/24
Ms. Laurel Collins (Victoria, NDP)
  • May/9/24 1:47:27 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, families and communities are continuing to suffer because of the toxic drug crisis. I have spoken to many mothers, fathers and friends who have lost loved ones. The Conservative rhetoric around this is not just harmful, but it will actually cost people their lives. To pretend that we have to choose between harm reduction and treatment when we are facing a national emergency is unconscionable. Given that we are facing this national emergency, why has the Liberal Party not declared a national public health emergency on the toxic drug crisis and created a pan-Canadian response?
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Context: House Hansard - 312 - May/9/24
Mr. Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L'Érable, CPC)
  • May/9/24 3:01:55 p.m.
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Mr. Speaker, after nine years of this Prime Minister, Quebec is headed for the worst July 1 crisis in history. This Prime Minister's inflationary spending, supported by the Bloc Québécois, has doubled the cost of rent and is forcing people, like the woman we read about in the newspapers, to live in their minivans. In Quebec, everyone knows that July 1 is going to be a disaster, but the Minister of Housing confirmed this morning that he knows nothing about it. Can the Prime Minister tell us how many Quebeckers will be out on the streets on July 1 because of his minister's ignorance?
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Context: House Hansard - 312 - May/9/24
Ms. Lori Idlout (Nunavut, NDP)
  • May/9/24 4:24:25 p.m.
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Uqaqtittiji, I want to thank the member for his excellent intervention. Does the member agree that what needs to happen is for the Liberal government to declare a national emergency on the toxic drug crisis so that there is a pan-Canadian response to addressing it?
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Context: House Hansard - 312 - May/9/24
Hon. Robert Oliphant
  • May/9/24 4:25:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I always have time to listen to the member for Nunavut. I am very glad she was able to ask a question. There is a national crisis. It is clear. It is coast to coast to coast. It is hitting cities, communities, small towns, remote cities and remote villages. It is hitting everyone. It hits both rural and urban people. I will absolutely commit to working on best practices to ensure every part of this country, north, south, east and west, has an opportunity to engage in everything needed. I do not really know what a national emergency means. I know it is a personal emergency. It has hit my family. It has hit other families in the House. We need to work on it.
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Context: House Hansard - 312 - May/9/24
Ms. Bonita Zarrillo
  • May/9/24 5:05:31 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I was just talking to one of my colleagues earlier today about how history is repeating itself in many areas. We were out on the Hill today, taking a stand against those who want to take away the rights of women, anti-choice groups, out on the Hill. We seem to be seeing a “back to the future” return and this is just a reoccurring theme with the Conservatives. They want to take us back in time. We need to focus on lives, saving lives. I would just say to the member from the Liberals that the Liberals, too, must address this crisis at the scale it requires and move faster to make sure that we can save more lives.
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