The federal minister for addictions and mental health says it’s too early to draw conclusions about drug decriminalization after British Columbia asked Ottawa to scale back its pilot to help curb concerns about public drug use.
Ya’ara Saks noted Monday that the province is only a year into its three-year pilot project, which began in early 2023.
To make it happen, Health Canada issued an exemption to federal drug laws, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of certain illegal drugs, including heroin, fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine.
“We’re still evaluating the data,” the minister said.
On Friday, B.C. Premier David Eby asked Health Canada to amend that exemption order to recriminalize the use of those drugs in public spaces, such as hospitals and restaurants.
While adults would still be allowed to use such drugs in private, they could be arrested for using them in public.
The request followed months of backlash from residents, health-care workers, police and conservative politicians about the project’s effect on public safety.
Saks said she met with her provincial counterpart on Friday and the province’s amendment request is under review.
“The overdose crisis, as I’ve said before and I say again, is a health crisis issue. It is not a criminal one,” Saks told reporters.
B.C. was the first jurisdiction in Canada to seek the decriminalization of small amounts of hard drugs.
The province declared drug-related overdose deaths to be a public-health emergency in 2016, and the crisis worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
WATCH | B.C. recriminalizes drug use in public spaces:
B.C. recriminalizes drug use in public spaces
3 days ago
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British Columbia Premier David Eby has announced that drug use in public spaces will be recriminalized over public safety concerns following a wave of troubling accounts of street drugs being taken in hospitals, parks and transit stops.
Eby told reporters Monday that other jurisdictions can learn from its experience with decriminalization to date.
He said there must be resources in place to address public drug use.
“There are important lessons to be learned on where we are to date, that don’t need to be repeated,” he said.
“Addressing the public’s concern around public use is critical to having their understanding about taking a health approach to addiction. Balancing those two things is core, and I hope other jurisdictions take that lesson and don’t repeat our mistakes.”
Toronto also has requested an exemption from Health Canada.
Toronto Public Health said in a statement that it is monitoring B.C.’s experience. It added that in its proposed model, public drug use would remain illegal.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford takes part in a press conference at Ottawa City Hall on Monday, April 29, 2024. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)
Ontario Premier Doug Ford repeated his call Monday for Toronto to drop its application.
Ford said he’s spoken to Eby about how things have gone in B.C. and said “it’s turned into a nightmare.”
Saks said Toronto’s request is also under review, and each request for decriminalization will be treated individually.
“We work with jurisdictions on a case-by-case basis, making sure we have a full suite of tools available to help vulnerable populations. That includes prevention, that includes harm reduction, that includes treatment and it includes a full set of health considerations,” she said.
“It’s not an apples-to-apples situation and we continue to partner and work with jurisdictions.”
The Public Health Agency of Canada says 22 people die every day from toxic drug deaths, and fentanyl is the leading cause. Most of the deaths are in B.C., Ontario and Alberta.
Health officials and advocates for drug users warn the situation is only worsening, given an increasingly toxic supply of drugs.
Leader of the Conservative Party Pierre Poilievre rises during question period on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
During question period on Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pressed the Liberal government on B.C.’s about-face.
He is requesting an emergency debate on the issue in the House of Commons.
“Until Justin Trudeau’s dangerous drug decriminalization policy is entirely dismantled, it will continue to cause death, chaos and carnage across Canada,” he said in a letter to House of Commons Speaker Greg Fergus.
Poilievre has repeatedly called public drug use in cities like Vancouver a “dangerous experiment.”
He charges that it fuels addiction and pledges that a future Conservative government would pull out from harm reduction strategies and focus on recovery-oriented approaches instead.
Petra Schulz has been an Edmonton advocate for a supervised drug consumption service. Her son, Danny, died of a fentanyl overdose in 2014. (CBC)
Advocacy groups such as Moms Stop the Harm have asked to meet with Poilievre. They say his proposal ignores evidence that harm-reduction strategies work to save lives.
Its co-founder spoke Monday at a parliamentary committee that has been studying the opioid epidemic.
In a statement before her appearance, Petra Schulz said it has been “upsetting and infuriating” to see loved ones’ deaths politicized with “misinformation and outright lies.”
“I urge members of Parliament to stop the angry, harmful and polarizing rhetoric and social-media posts, and to listen to people who use drugs when developing drug policy.”
FREDERICTON – A look at Blaine Higgs, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick.
Born: March 1, 1954.
Early years: The son of a customs officer, he grew up in Forest City, N.B., near the Canada-U.S. border.
Education: Graduated from the University of New Brunswick with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1977.
Family: Married his high-school sweetheart, Marcia, and settled in Saint John, N.B., where they had four daughters: Lindsey, Laura, Sarah and Rachel.
Before politics: Hired by Irving Oil a week after he graduated from university and was eventually promoted to director of distribution. Worked for 33 years at the company.
Politics: Elected to the legislature in 2010 and later served as finance minister under former Progressive Conservative Premier David Alward. Elected Tory leader in 2016 and has been premier since 2018.
Quote: “I’ve always felt parents should play the main role in raising children. No one is denying gender diversity is real. But we need to figure out how to manage it.” — Blaine Higgs in a year-end interview in 2023, explaining changes to school policies about gender identity.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
GATINEAU, Que. – Treasury Board President Anita Anand will take on the additional role of transport minister this afternoon, after Pablo Rodriguez resigned from cabinet to run for the Quebec Liberal leadership.
A government source who was not authorized to speak publicly says Anand will be sworn in at a small ceremony at Rideau Hall.
Public Services and Procurement Minister Jean-Yves Duclos will become the government’s new Quebec lieutenant, but he is not expected to be at the ceremony because that is not an official role in cabinet.
Rodriguez announced this morning that he’s leaving cabinet and the federal Liberal caucus and will sit as an Independent member of Parliament until January.
That’s when the Quebec Liberal leadership race is set to officially begin.
Rodriguez says sitting as an Independent will allow him to focus on his own vision, but he plans to vote with the Liberals on a non-confidence motion next week.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs has called an election for Oct. 21, signalling the beginning of a 33-day campaign expected to focus on pocketbook issues and the government’s provocative approach to gender identity policies.
The 70-year-old Progressive Conservative leader, who is seeking a third term in office, has attracted national attention by requiring teachers to get parental consent before they can use the preferred names and pronouns of young students.
More recently, however, the former Irving Oil executive has tried to win over inflation-weary voters by promising to lower the provincial harmonized sales tax by two percentage points to 13 per cent if re-elected.
At dissolution, the Conservatives held 25 seats in the 49-seat legislature. The Liberals held 16 seats, the Greens had three and there was one Independent and four vacancies.
J.P. Lewis, a political science professor at the University of New Brunswick, said the top three issues facing New Brunswickers are affordability, health care and education.
“Across many jurisdictions, affordability is the top concern — cost of living, housing prices, things like that,” he said.
Richard Saillant, an economist and former vice-president of Université de Moncton, said the Tories’ pledge to lower the HST represents a costly promise.
“I don’t think there’s that much room for that,” he said. “I’m not entirely clear that they can do so without producing a greater deficit.” Saillant also pointed to mounting pressures to invest more in health care, education and housing, all of which are facing increasing demands from a growing population.
Higgs’s main rivals are Liberal Leader Susan Holt and Green Party Leader David Coon. Both are focusing on economic and social issues.
Holt has promised to impose a rent cap and roll out a subsidized school food program. The Liberals also want to open at least 30 community health clinics over the next four years.
Coon has said a Green government would create an “electricity support program,” which would give families earning less than $70,000 annually about $25 per month to offset “unprecedented” rate increases.
Higgs first came to power in 2018, when the Tories formed the province’s first minority government in 100 years. In 2020, he called a snap election — the first province to go to the polls after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — and won a majority.
Since then, several well-known cabinet ministers and caucus members have stepped down after clashing with Higgs, some of them citing what they described as an authoritarian leadership style and a focus on policies that represent a hard shift to the right side of the political spectrum.
Lewis said the Progressive Conservatives are in the “midst of reinvention.”
“It appears he’s shaping the party now, really in the mould of his world views,” Lewis said. “Even though (Progressive Conservatives) have been down in the polls, I still think that they’re very competitive.”
Meanwhile, the legislature remained divided along linguistic lines. The Tories dominate in English-speaking ridings in central and southern parts of the province, while the Liberals held most French-speaking ridings in the north.
The drama within the party began in October 2022 when the province’s outspoken education minister, Dominic Cardy, resigned from cabinet, saying he could no longer tolerate the premier’s leadership style. In his resignation letter, Cardy cited controversial plans to reform French-language education. The government eventually stepped back those plans.
A series of resignations followed last year when the Higgs government announced changes to Policy 713, which now requires students under 16 who are exploring their gender identity to get their parents’ consent before teachers can use their preferred first names or pronouns — a reversal of the previous practice.
When several Tory lawmakers voted with the opposition to call for an external review of the change, Higgs dropped dissenters from his cabinet. And a bid by some party members to trigger a leadership review went nowhere.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
