OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — Canadian MPs in a 209 to 113 vote on Monday agreed to keep in place a policy enacted by the Liberal government under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, which more or less guarantees the “safe supply” of hard drugs to addicts in the province of British Columbia.
The vote came after Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) leader Pierre Poilievre on Monday brought forth a motion calling for cabinet to “immediately reverse its deadly policies and redirect all funds from taxpayer-funded hard drug programs to addiction treatment and recovery programs.”
According to Poilievre, spending on hard drug programs has totaled a whopping $800 million since 2017.
The vote was held in light of a federal policy from May of 2022, which in effect decriminalized hard drugs on a trial-run basis in the province of British Columbia. While the policy was approved in 2022, it did not come into effect until February of this year.
Under the policy, the federal government began allowing people within the province to possess up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs without criminal penalty, but selling drugs remained a crime.
Despite the latest government extension, the policy has been widely criticized, especially after it was found that the province broke three different drug-related overdose records in the first month the new law was in effect.
Some of Trudeau’s senior cabinet ministers claimed Monday that the lax drug policy is not “about encouraging drug use or turning a blind eye to the consequences.”
Minister of Addictions Carolyn Bennett told the House of Commons regarding “safe supply” that it is “about acknowledging the reality that people will continue to use drugs and that by providing a safer alternative we can minimize the harm and pave the way toward recovery.”
Poilievre, however, said that people are essentially being told that “giving out and decriminalizing hard drugs would reduce drug overdoses.”
“These so-called experts are typically pie-in-the-sky theorists with no experience getting people off drugs or they are members of the ‘misery industry,’ those paid activists and public health bureaucrats whose jobs depend on the crisis continuing,” he added.
Poilievre noted that a recent trip to British Columbia showed him firsthand the effects of drug decimalization.
“I got off the plane and, first thing, the pilot told me that he had two addicts in his backyard the night before rummaging around and trying to steal so that they could pay for their drugs,” said Poilievre.
“Then I saw the front page of the local Nanaimo newspaper saying there are record overdoses,” he added.
“Then, one of the people who was going to be at my rallies was in the hospital because he was attacked by some members of the local tent city.”
According to the British Columbia Coroners Service, there were 2,314 overdose deaths in 2022, 2,310 deaths in 2021, and 1,773 deaths in 2020.
Last week, LifeSiteNews reported on how some high school students in British Columbia were even given tools to snort hard drugs, such as cocaine, after a presentation that was held at their school.
Earlier this month, LifeSiteNews also reported about a Canadian man from British Columbia who opened a full-blown street store selling drugs such as crack, heroin, and meth out of a trailer. His store, however, was shut down by police after he was arrested.
A newly released documentary by British Columbia-based filmmaker Aaron Gunn, called “Canada Is Dying,” takes a hard look at the massive increase in hard drug use in both the province and nationwide.
While British Columbia continues down the path of decriminalization, the neighboring province of Alberta is eyeing a different approach.
Recently, Alberta premier Danielle Smith, who just won re-election on Monday, said that her government would tackle hard drug use through compassionate care and addictions treatment, and not through the “safe” supply of drugs.
At the federal level, despite calls by activists to decriminalize drugs nationwide, a bill put forth in June 2022 by the New Democratic Party (NDP) seeking to make that situation a reality nationwide was handily defeated in a 248-71 vote.