OTTAWA, Ontario (LifeSiteNews) — Amid record-high drug deaths, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, now says he backs mandatory involuntary treatment for minors and prisoners severely addicted to drugs.
Poilievre, who earlier was cold to the idea, confirmed to the media last week that he is now fully on board with forcing severe addicts to get help and treating addiction with “rehab and recovery.”
“I believe for children and for prisoners who are behind bars, there should be mandatory drug treatment when they are found to be incapable of making decisions for themselves,” he said (24:33 min. mark).
Poilievre added that regarding forcing adults to get treatment, he is “still doing a lot of research on how that would work, but what I will say is we need to defund the unsafe government supply of drugs that the Trudeau and the NDP regimens are pushing on the population.”
According to Poilievre, he chose to back involuntary treatment for minors after hearing the testimony of 13-year-old Brianna Macdonald’s parents during a recent committee meeting on Parliament Hill. Macdonald, after battling drugs for a year, died in a homeless camp in Abbotsford, British Columbia.
Brianna’s parents noted their daughter had been battling illegal drug use from the age of 12, and despite them begging doctors to “keep her in hospitals,” the medical staff would “overlook what we said and release her, sending us home with Narcan kits.”
Additionally, Poilievre said that Canada needs to “prosecute drug criminals” and “treat addiction with rehab and recovery so that we can bring our loved ones home drug-free.”
His comments come after some provinces, such as Alberta and New Brunswick, have stated that legislation is coming that seeks to mandate minors seek treatment for severe drug use.
In British Columbia and Ontario, the so-called “safer supply” model has been in use and promoted by current and former governments. However, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, as reported by LifeSiteNews recently, said he wants to end “safer supply” in his province. He said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s continued push for lax drug policies has effectively turned the federal government into “the biggest drug dealer in the entire country.”
Some provinces, such as Alberta, appear to be having success with recovery-based approaches to dealing with addicts, instead of giving them more drugs.
As reported by LifeSiteNews last month, deaths related to opioid and other drug overdoses in Alberta have fallen to their lowest levels in years after Conservative Premier Danielle Smith’s government began to focus on helping addicts via a recovery-based approach instead of the Liberal-minded, so-called “safe supply” method.
While the federal government of Trudeau claims its “safer supply” program is good because it is “providing prescribed medications as a safer alternative to the toxic illegal drug supply,” studies have shown that these programs often lead to an excess of deaths from overdose in areas where they are allowed.
As for Poilievre, he has said that a Conservative government would slash funding to so-called “safe” injection sites.
After his federal government allowed the province of British Columbia to decriminalize the possession of hard drugs, including heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, meth and MDMA beginning on January 1, 2023, reports of overdoses and chaos began skyrocketing, leading the province to request that Trudeau re-criminalize drugs in public spaces.
A week later, the Trudeau government relented and accepted British Columbia’s request.