Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the Liberals have a “radical plan to make our streets less safe,” by backing supervised injection sites, safer drug supply and decriminalization of personal possession. Read More
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Liberal drug policies will increase crime, addictions and deaths. We check out his claims.
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the Liberals have a “radical plan to make our streets less safe,” by backing supervised injection sites, safer drug supply and decriminalization of personal possession.
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The claim
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In a recent campaign statement, the Conservatives accused Liberal Leader Mark Carney and several of his candidates of making Canada more dangerous by supporting policies intended to help drug users.
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“The question in this election is: Can we afford a fourth Liberal term of rising crime, drugs and chaos,” Poilievre asked in a video posted on Instagram.
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Sunrise
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“Or is it time for a new Conservative government to stop the drugs, treat addiction and bring our loved ones home drug-free for a change?”
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What we found
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Jail sentences
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Conservatives accused Carney of being against keeping fentanyl dealers in jail, citing a 2022 Liberal bill that removed mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related convictions, which reversed tough-on-crime measures passed by a former Conservative government.
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The Liberal bill, though, was introduced to bring the Criminal Code in line with major Supreme Court decisions that struck down such penalties as unconstitutional.
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Poilievre says if he wins the election, he will reverse the bill and ensure mandatory life sentences for “fentanyl kingpins.” Constitutional experts say that promise could be in violation of the Constitution.
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Supervised consumption sites
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The Conservatives took aim at Gregor Robertson, the Liberal candidate for Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby, for his support of supervised consumption sites while he was Vancouver’s mayor from 2008 to 2018.
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Poilievre condemns these sites as “drug dens” and vows to close them if elected.
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In response, B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne insisted these sites “play an important role in the spectrum of care” that people with addictions often need, including reversing overdoses and connecting them with treatment. “They save lives,” she said.
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Vancouvers’ Insite, North America’s first legal supervised consumption site, has been the subject of multiple academic reviews that all concluded it has saved lives.
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Decriminalization
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The Conservatives criticized Victoria Liberal candidate Will Greaves for supporting the decriminalization of drug possession in a 2020 social media post, and Robertson for backing the idea while he was mayor.