Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Friday referred to supervised consumption sites as “drug dens” and vowed to close some of them if he is elected premier, a proposal the British Columbia premier called “a real mistake.”
Poilievre also said a Conservative government would withdraw federal funding for such operations.
“We will close safe injection sites near schools, playgrounds and any other places that endanger the public,” Poilievre told reporters at a news conference.
The event was held at a playground in southwest Montreal, near a transitional housing project that also includes a supervised consumption site, which has been a source of controversy in the community.
“We will defund them. Not one taxpayer dollar from the Poilievre administration will go to drug dens. Every penny will go to treatment and recovery services, so our loved ones can go home drug-free,” Poilievre said.
The Conservative leader criticised the district’s Liberal MP Marc Miller for “doing nothing” to address public safety concerns.
Poilievre has recently held several events in Montreal as the party tries to make inroads in the city, particularly in the Liberal stronghold of Mount-Royal, held by Anthony Housefather.
The first supervised consumption centre opened in Vancouver two decades ago, and according to Health Canada, there are now 39 across the country. Health authorities across the country also operate temporary overdose prevention centres that do not have the same support services as supervised consumption centres.
British Columbia Premier David Eby defended supervised consumption sites when asked about Poilievre’s comments on Friday, telling reporters in Burnaby that closing them would also lead to more open and unsafe drug use.
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“These sites are one of the mechanisms to connect people to the system and provide them with treatment,” he said. “They also keep people alive and prevent them from using drugs in the doorways of businesses, in parks and on the streets.
“I hope I can demonstrate to any administration that closing these sites would be a real mistake.”
Poilievre has attacked Eby’s NDP government and the federal Liberals for launching a three-year pilot project in British Columbia last year that decriminalized possession of small amounts of hard drugs. The province partially reversed the program in the spring to stem the rise in public drug use.
Eby and his government were also forced this week to disavow a report by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, a critic of drug prohibition policies, that proposed offering “safe supply” alternatives to opioids and other street drugs without a prescription. The Conservatives have sought to link the report to Eby and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, despite Henry’s independence from the government.
Addiction researchers have said a multifaceted approach that includes safe consumption sites, decriminalization, regulated drug supply and treatment is the best way to solve the overdose crisis and combat the use of deadly opioids like fentanyl. Researchers and advocates have also linked rising public drug use to the growing housing and homelessness crises.
Health Canada says the goal of supervised consumption sites is to prevent overdose deaths and the spread of infections such as HIV and hepatitis C, and to provide medical care and mental health support.
A 2011 Supreme Court ruling said closing the first operation in Vancouver would violate Charter rights.
But Poilievre said that means sites can operate anywhere without “reasonable restrictions.”
The Conservative leader also pledged to make it harder to open supervised consumption sites, which must receive a waiver from the federal government under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to operate.
“We have the power under section 56.1 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to turn these drug dens down and shut them down when they endanger the public and that’s what I’m going to do,” Poilievre said.
Since 2016, there have been more than 44,000 opioid-related deaths in Canada.
Garth Mullins of the advocacy group Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users says the potential closure of these sites will only lead to more fatal overdoses.
“I’m an expert because I’ve been there. I was shooting heroin before there were safe places to shoot it, and I was doing it in public sometimes, so if I overdosed or fell, maybe someone would call 911,” Mullins said.
In his opinion, Poilievre should consider opening more supervised consumption centres, rather than threatening to reduce them. He also accused Poilievre of not having a real plan.
“It’s a nice dream, the dream of a world without drugs, but it’s also very naive. They have no answer to the toxic drug crisis. They have no solution to the thousands of deaths,” Mullins said.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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