How federal leaders plan to address B.C.’s toxic drug crisis

With the federal election just four days away, Liberal Leader Mark Carney tied up his West Coast campaign in Coquitlam by acknowledging a key issue for B.C. voters.

Carney says, if elected, he will bring in harsher penalties for drug traffickers, recruit 2,000 RCMP and border security agents collectively, and send $500 million to the emergency treatment fund, which helps support projects like the City of New Westminster’s crisis response pilot project.

“We will … tackle the toxic drug crisis head-on because we know that the current approach isn’t working,” he said.

“We are also establishing a permanent youth mental health fund, that will provide 100,000 young people every year with mental health care because mental health and addiction are deeply interlinked.”

What Carney did not mention was his stance on overdose prevention sites. In a previous news conference, the Liberal leader had said that supervised consumption sites are delivered through provincial governments and that they are reviewing the effectiveness of those sites.

Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has made his stance on the sites clear throughout the campaign, often referring to them as “drug dens.”

Poilievre says a Conservative government would require provincial overdose prevention sites to apply for a federal licence to operate while echoing harsher penalties for drug traffickers.

“We’re going to provide 50,000 treatment spaces where you can go and get detox, counselling, group therapy, physical exercise, job placement, and a home,” he said.

“So, hang on, have hope; help is on the way.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has focused on other issues during his campaign but has been in support of safe consumption sites, saying they are required to stop overdoses.