Two months after his election as leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, in 2022, Pierre Poilievre published a now famous video in which he summarized in a mournful tone all the ills of Canadian society which had accumulated since the election of Justin Trudeau. “Do you sometimes have the feeling that everything is broken in Canada? » he asked, sitting on a log on a Vancouver beach, near an improvised camp. “The addictions we see that are terrorizing these people and our communities,” he said, pointing to the tents behind him, “are the result of a failed experiment — a deliberate policy of the woke Liberal and NDP governments aimed at flooding our streets of these poisons that are drugs paid for by taxpayers. »
Mr. Poilievre then referred to the safer supply projects launched by the NDP government of British Columbia, with the collaboration and funding of the federal government. These allowed people most at risk of overdose to have access to pharmaceutical-grade medications, such as hydromorphone, as substitutes for highly toxic street drugs.
These projects quickly became the target of right-wing politicians and the subject of multiple articles in the National Post reporting the diversion of these prescribed drugs resold on the black market by some participants who sought to purchase stronger illicit drugs. The media coverage of the seizures of drugs diverted by the police had highlighted the unexpected consequences of these projects aimed at reducing deaths linked to overdoses.
However, Mr. Poilievre’s video appeared before the launch in 2023 of a pilot project to decriminalize the possession of small quantities of certain illegal drugs, including opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA. In the months since it came into force, the use of these drugs in public places has become so widespread — and public outcry so widespread — that the government of Prime Minister David Eby was forced to back down from trying to to once again ban consumption in public places. However, last December, the Supreme Court of British Columbia suspended the entry into force of a new provincial law aimed at reintroducing this ban, saying that its application would cause “irreparable harm” to dependent people, many of whom are without housing.
Drug use in public places
Backed against a wall, Mr. Eby turned to Ottawa last week to ask Health Canada to modify the exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that paved the way for the decriminalization pilot project. The amendment would aim to give the police the power to intervene to stop or prevent the use of drugs in public places.
By passing the ball back to Ottawa, Mr. Eby is seeking to extricate himself from a situation that threatens his own political survival just a few months before the provincial elections next October. British Columbia’s New Democratic Party has seen its lead in the polls disappear like snow in the sun in recent weeks, while that province’s Conservative Party is experiencing a spectacular renaissance, largely due to public discontent with regarding decriminalization.
The debate moved this week to the House of Commons. During question period on Tuesday, Mr. Poilievre asked Mr. Trudeau why his government was delaying responding to Mr. Eby’s request. “When will we end this crazy policy of this crazy prime minister? » he said in English, calling Mr. Trudeau a wacko. Mr. Poilievre’s refusal to withdraw his remarks, as requested by Speaker Greg Fergus, led to his expulsion from the House for the remainder of the day. Returning to the House on Wednesday, Mr. Poilievre took up this theme by asking
Mr. Trudeau if he was going to “impose on Montreal the same chaos that he imposed on British Columbia” by granting Mayor Valérie Plante’s wish to follow the example of the west coast province.
Make no mistake: sometimes Mr. Poilievre does not care about nuances, if not truths. The hard drug decriminalization pilot project and safer supply programs are legitimate responses, advocated by experts, to a public health scourge that destroys thousands of lives each year and whose causes are as complex as they are difficult. to eradicate. The punitive approach proved to be a complete failure. But the botched implementation of British Columbia’s decriminalization pilot project left the progressive politicians who authorized it vulnerable.
Mr. Poilievre exploits this vulnerability to the maximum by presenting this initiative, like that of safer supply, as signs of the “decivilization” of Canadian society. This theme was already at the heart of his famous 2022 video. Since then, he has hit this nail hard – and has achieved great results, if we trust the polls.