Hello,
B.C. Premier David Eby, whose government has announced a major policy reversal of its drug decriminalization pilot project, said he hopes other jurisdictions will learn from his province’s mistakes.
While he maintains that addiction should be treated as a health issue and not as criminal, there needs to be limits on public consumption of illicit drugs.
“There are important lessons to be learned about where we are today that don’t need to be repeated in other places,” Eby told reporters at an unrelated news conference today in Langley, B.C.
“It’s very clear that the public drug use that we’re seeing, the problematic conduct that we’re seeing in communities, is unacceptable to British Columbians. It’s unacceptable to me. And we had to address it.”
The B.C. legislation introduced last fall is now held up in the courts, subject to a Charter challenge. The lesson there, he said, is that the federal government needs to amend its drug law exemption underpinning decriminalization.
He is still waiting for Ottawa to respond to his province’s request, announced last Friday, to dramatically roll back the original exemption that came into effect in January 2023.
“We’re hopeful that Ottawa is treating this with the urgency that we’ve asked them to for, and we see no reason not to believe that. We think they’re taking this very seriously and they understand the public concern as well as our government’s concern that this be dealt with quickly,” he said.
In Ottawa, Ya’ara Saks, the Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, told journalists that her department is reviewing B.C.’s request, and is committed to work with the province.
“Our commitment is to keep this firmly in the frame that this is a health care crisis and it is not a criminalization issue,” she said ahead of Question Period.
Also in the nation’s capital, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he will fight “tooth and nail” against any efforts to decriminalize drugs to deal with the overdose crisis.
Ford was responding today to both British Columbia’s decision to roll back part of its experiment with decriminalizing possession of small amounts of hard drugs as well as Toronto officials asking Health Canada to approve a decriminalization plan.
“Legalizing hard drugs? You’ve got to be kidding me,” Ford, a Progressive Conservative, said at a news conference with Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe. “I will fight this tooth and nail. This is the wrong way to go.”
He added, “Sometimes I wonder where people’s brains are. I really do.”
Justine Hunter in Victoria with a report from Ian Bailey in Ottawa
Breaking: Michael Duheme, who has been the interim RCMP commissioner, has been appointed to the post on a permanent basis since March, 2023, the Prime Minister’s Office announced this afternoon.
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TODAY'S HEADLINES
India’s spy agency tied to killing of Canadian Sikh activist: news report: The Washington Post says an officer in India’s foreign intelligence agency has been linked to the 2023 slaying of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar as well as a thwarted plot to kill his New York-based ally Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. Story here.
Conservatives want EV project details, demand union job protections: The federal Tories tabled a motion today at a House of Commons committee meeting, asking to view contracts related to six electric-vehicle projects under way in Canada for information on what they do to protect local union jobs.
Parliament spaces out microphones after another interpreter is injured: The Canadian Association of Professional Employees says the injured employee has been off work for weeks, and it blames both this incident and other injuries on inadequate equipment on Parliament Hill.
What Trudeau’s podcast appearances say about the Liberals’ next ballot box question: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office is trying something new to get his message out, namely having Trudeau appear on podcasts – four recently – where he’s pitching his policy plans..
Anita Anand first aimed to transform Canada’s military culture. The public service is next: The first person of colour to hold the federal government’s purse strings as Treasury Board president is working to bolster diversity in the public service.
Quebec unveils $603-million, five-year plan to protect French language: Jean-François Roberge, the provincial minister responsible for French, told a news conference the government’s nine priorities include better monitoring of language trends, boosting the French cultural offering and improving students’ mastery of French.
So you bought a pipeline. Now what?: Canada’s $34-billion Trans Mountain pipeline expansion is about to go into service. Now comes the hard part – choosing when to sell it, who gets to buy it and for how much.
TODAY’S POLITICAL QUOTES
“I can tell you. It did not help those people to arrest them, to bring them to a bail hearing , to put them through the criminal justice system, to sometimes jail them. That did not benefit those people. It did not help them with their addiction. It did not help them with their mental-health concerns. Ultimately, I believe that all Canadians want to save people’s lives. That’s what we need to do.” – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, speaking ahead of Question Period today, recalling his experiences as a criminal-defence lawyer dealing with clients struggling with addiction.
THIS AND THAT
Today in the Commons: Projected Order of Business at the House of Commons, today, accessible here.
Deputy Prime Minister’s day: Chrystia Freeland attended Question Period.
Ministers on the road: Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault, in Gatineau, Que., spoke on housing.
Commons committee highlights: At the defence committee, Lieutenant-General Blaise Frawley, deputy commander of the North American Aerospace Defence Command, was among witnesses appearing on the subject of space defence. Procurement Ombudsman Alexander Jeglic appeared before the government-operations committee on federal government consulting contracts awarded to McKinsey & Co. Auditor-General Karen Hogan appeared before the Indigenous and Northern affairs committee on various reports including those on housing in first nations communities and the first nations and Inuit policing program.
Allan Gray, president and chief executive officer of the Halifax Port Authority, appeared before the public-safety committee on car thefts in Canada. Diversity Minister Kamal Khera and Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan appeared before the human-resources committee on government spending. In the evening, Nathalie Drouin, deputy Privy Council clerk and the Prime Minister’s national security and intelligence advisor, as well as David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, were scheduled to appear before the committee on Canada and China relationship.
PRIME MINISTER’S DAY
Justin Trudeau, in Ottawa, participated in a fireside chat at the annual conference of the Canada Building Trades Union. Later, he met with Patrick Brown, mayor of the Toronto-area city of Brampton.
LEADERS
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May attended the House of Commons, and was scheduled to co host a reception on Parliament Hill.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh held a media availability on Parliament Hill, and attended Question Period.
No schedules released for Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre.
THE DECIBEL
On today’s edition of the podcast, Adam Radwanski, The Globe’s climate policy columnist, talks about a few of the Canadian deals with the electric-vehicle industry and the industry’s future. The Decibel is here.
OPINION
Fill in the blanks on automatic tax filing
“In the fall of 2020, after the first wave of the pandemic had receded, the federal Liberals relaunched their minority government with a Throne Speech. Among the various pledges: make it a lot easier to file taxes, especially for lower-income Canadians. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke of investments in Ottawa’s beleaguered IT systems and the Liberals’ plan “to introduce free, automatic tax filing for simple returns to ensure citizens receive the benefits they need.” – The Globe and Mail Editorial Board
It’s a mistake to confuse capital gains tax breaks with doctors’ pay
“When Ontario Premier Doug Ford warned that Ottawa’s increase in capital-gains taxes would cause family doctors to pack up their practice, he was accidentally pointing to his own failure. Here was the paymaster of the province’s doctors – the leader responsible for making health care work in Canada’s most-populated province, and who controls all the levers for training and retaining physicians – telling citizens that unless physicians can build more tax-free equity in their careers, the health care system will fall into crisis.” – Campbell Clark
Is Doug Ford really a conservative?
“In 2018, Doug Ford won the race to become the leader of the Progressive Conservatives of Ontario, and in that role, he led the party to an election victory and became Premier. Over six years, Mr. Ford has convinced his party, his caucus and his province (twice!) that he is the Ontario PCs’ rightful standard-bearer. Yet a question has been raised: Is he a conservative?” -Ken Boessenkool
Canada needs to have a plan for the U.S., no matter who becomes president. That starts with making us matter more
“It’s not just about Donald Trump. It’s about us, the indispensable ally that has allowed ourselves to dwindle into dispensability. That Canada’s neighbour is turning its back on the liberal values and internationalism that propelled the United States up the Billboard charts of world powers over the past century-and-a-half – that’s on the Americans. We don’t get a vote, after all. That we are less consequential in the face of rising American nationalism and fragmenting geopolitics, however – that’s on us.” – Edward Greenspon, Janice Gross Stein and Drew Fagan
To transform Canadian health care, we must listen to the wisdom of nurses
“Take a minute and name a few famous or influential physicians. How many names did you come up with? Now let’s try something different: Take a minute to think of a few famous or influential nurses. Was it just one name that came to mind? And was it Florence Nightingale?” – Amie Archibald-Varley and Sara Fung
The questions haven’t changed – but answers are harder to get
“In 1994, if a reporter had questions for then-premier John Savage, they walked across Granville Street from Province House in downtown Halifax, entered One Government Place, rode the elevator to the seventh floor and asked the receptionist if Savage had a few minutes to spare. More often than not, the premier would come out, answer questions and then both he and the reporter would carry on with their day.” – Jean Laroche, CBC
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Ian Bailey