Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he will take all federal dollars out of programs and facilities that use prescribed drug alternatives in perhaps his strongest commitment yet to roll back a Liberal drug program he claims is fuelling “chaos” on the country’s streets.
The Tory leader said his government would focus squarely on recovery, adding that there’s no room to compromise on so-called “safer supply” facilities that he sees as the cause of the current state of the addiction crisis.
“Am I going to give any more money to these agencies that caused the crisis? No. They’re not going to get any more money. They’ve caused the mayhem,” Poilievre said at a press conference Thursday at a playground in London, Ont.
Poilievre has previously said he would defund facilities that provide prescribed alternatives near schools and parks.
Thursday’s comment suggests a future Conservative government would be even more sweeping and expand that pledge to all areas.
Poilievre pointed to Harvest House Ministries, an Ottawa drug treatment facility, as an example of an organization the news media should speak with about how best to address drug policy.
The 24-bed facility offers live-in treatment for men aged 16 to 30 who are struggling with addiction and are seeking treatment to satisfy bail conditions after a criminal conviction.
The facility’s director, Daniel Crepault, told CBC News he doesn’t have a problem with safer supply — he just ultimately wants people to get treatment.
“I believe people who are doing safe supply want to save lives, and it’s hard to really object to that,” Crepault said.
“I understand harm reduction generally is trying to help people, but it must always be remembered that it’s like trying to stem the bleeding; it’s not an actual long-term treatment. It doesn’t get people out of the problem, it just keeps them alive for another day.”
Crepault said there’s a “huge” demand for Harvest House’s services.
He said many would-be patients also have mental health issues like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in addition to their drug addiction — conditions that his treatment facility isn’t fully equipped to manage.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he agrees with one of his MPs’ proposals that Canadians who are convicted for drug-related offences should receive drug treatment in prison as part of the sentence.
‘Too hard’ to find the right programs, says Poilievre
For his treatment-first policy proposal to be effective, Poilievre conceded a future Conservative government would need to rapidly expand access to these programs.
“It is too hard to find right [programming] now and that’s why a lot of people don’t get help. They try, you know. They call a 1-800 number, they dig around, family members go scrounging around to try and find out what’s available. They’re then told that it’s $40,000 to put someone in a treatment,” Poilievre said.
“We have treatment facilities. The problem is there’s not enough of them,” he said.
CBC News has asked the federal government just how much federal money goes into prescribed alternative delivery and other associated programs that Poilievre now says he would defund but did not immediately hear back.
The government describes the use of “safer supply” programs as a means to provide “an alternative to the toxic illegal drug supply” and help prevent overdoses, while helping people struggling with addiction connect with other health and social services.
Poilievre also raised the issue of prescribed alternative drugs being diverted from their intended use and used as black market currency.
At a July 15 news conference, London Police Chief Thai Truong said they’d seized more than 11,000 Dilaudid tablets — the brand name for hydromorphone — in the first six months of 2024.
Instead of being used for their prescribed purpose, those tablets are being resold, Truong said.
“It’s being trafficked into other communities, and it is being used as currency in exchange for fentanyl, fuelling the drug trade. That is a big concern for us,” Truong said.
Poilievre ‘not serious about this,’ says Singh
Speaking in Toronto Thursday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he doubts Poilievre’s commitment on the addictions issue and accused the Tory leader of using it to score political points.
“I question the genuine nature of Pierre Poilievre. He’s not serious about this,” Singh said.
“This is for him [about] playing politics, this is for him about dividing people. We’re focused on saving lives, getting people the help they need and getting the toxic garbage off our streets.”
When asked if he would be supportive of legislation making drug treatment mandatory — similar to what is being considered in Alberta under the promised Compassionate Intervention Act — Poilievre said he did not know.
Poilievre said he would have to see evidence first that such an approach is effective.
He did say that a member of his caucus, British Columbia MP Tracy Grey, has floated the idea of federal legislation where a judge could make addictions treatment part of a prison sentence when crimes are linked to addiction.
“That makes sense to me, because they’re already going to be in prison anyway,” Poilievre said. “They might as well be cleaning up their body and their souls and their addictions.”
No plan for national decriminalization: Saks
During his opening comments, Poilievre also accused the Liberal government of having a “secret document” with plans for national drug decriminalization after the election.
“Blacklock’s Reporter got their hands on the document and it showed a secret scheme to legalize crack, heroin, cocaine and other hard drugs, which — if Trudeau and the NDP are re-elected — will be as easy to get in your neighbourhood as a candy bar at a corner store,” Poilievre said, referring to an Ottawa-based online news outlet.
In an emailed response, Yuval Daniel, the press secretary for Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks, said that characterization was “completely false.”
The “so-called secret memo,” Daniel wrote, was part of briefing materials prepared for Saks from her recent appearance at the House of Commons health committee.
“These materials are proactively disclosed online and can be accessed on Open Government. There is no plan for ‘national decriminalization,'” Daniel wrote.
“While Conservatives try to score cheap political points and twist publicly available briefing materials into something they are not, we’ll keep working to save lives.”
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Ya’ara Saks tells Power & Politics that before responding to British Columbia’s request, the federal government wanted to ensure ‘there was operational clarity in terms of the direction to law enforcement.’ B.C. Premier David Eby asked for a change to the exemption order to recriminalize the use of illicit drugs in public spaces.
Under the heading “National Decriminalization,” a four-paragraph section in the memo in question says the federal government is committed to working with jurisdictions that have a “comprehensive plan” for decriminalizing “the possession of small amounts of substances for personal use.”
Those plans would have to have oversight and criteria to evaluate how effective they are at addressing the addictions crisis, the document adds.
Such an agreement exists with British Columbia, and was modified in May to recriminalize public drug use following a request from Premier David Eby.
The City of Toronto made a similar request to decriminalize the possession of illegal drugs, but Saks rejected it.
The minister said the federal government will only work with provinces on decriminalization initiatives. Ontario Premier Doug Ford has said he is firmly against Toronto’s proposal.