The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, was removed from question period at the Parliament’s House of Commons on Tuesday after condemning radical leftist Justin Trudeau, branding his policies “wacko” and refusing to withdraw the insult.
Trudeau responded to Poilievre’s condemnation by referring to him as “spineless” and accusing him of fraternizing with “white nationalist” groups, comments for which Speaker Greg Fergus neither demanded a retraction nor expelled Trudeau from the session.
The heated exchange occurred during a debate around Liberal Party support for policies to decriminalize the use of some drugs – and specifically the provincial government of British Columbia choosing to enact a program that decriminalized the use of opioids, methamphetamine, cocaine, and several other hard drugs, including in public places.
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ParlVUThe policy, announced in May 2022, came in vigor in January, prompting widespread outrage and disgust from the general population of British Columbia, which is clamoring for the government to walk the policy back. The original plan implemented in 2022 called for the decriminalization to last three years.
British Columbia Premier David Eby announced last week that he was withdrawing part of the policy, allowing police to once again stop people from doing hard drugs in public.
“While we are caring and compassionate for those struggling with addiction, we do not accept street disorder that makes communities feel unsafe,” Eby asserted.
The new policy will still decriminalize hard drug use in private if approved by the Trudeau government.
On Monday, Canadian Mental Health and Addictions Minister Ya’ara Saks insisted that the government is still “evaluating the data” on the disastrous British Columbia program and suggested that extreme decriminalization plans like the one that failed in that province may be greenlit elsewhere. The city of Toronto recently filed for federal government approval to similarly stop enforcing hard drug laws, causing alarm in Ontario.
“We work with jurisdictions on a case-by-case basis, making sure we have a full suite of tools available to help vulnerable populations,” Saks insisted, according to the CBC. “That includes prevention, that includes harm reduction, that includes treatment and it includes a full set of health considerations.”
Poilievre and other Conservatives accused Trudeau of hesitating on the recriminalization of hard drugs and endangering decent Canadians on the basis of policies that were wildly out of concert with the expectations of the Canadian public.
“Mr. Speaker, it is a choice for the prime minister to implement extremist policies that have taken the lives of 2,500 British Columbians every single year,” Poilievre asserted. “Since the NDP has asked him to reverse course on his and formerly the NDP’s radical policy, 22 British Columbians have died of drug overdoses, but he continues to allow those drugs to kill the people in our hospitals and on our public transit.”
“When will we put an end to this wacko policy by the wackoPrime Minister?” the Conservative leader asked, prompting the Speaker to demand he retract the statement, on the grounds that the word “wacko” was “not parliamentary” language.
Poilievre responded by agreeing to replace “wacko” with “extremist,” then suggesting “radical” when Fergus did not accept the replacement and insisted Poilievre withdraw the insult entirely. Poilievre refused to do so, prompting his expulsion for the day. The CBC reported that other Conservative lawmakers withdrew from the chamber in solidarity following the removal. Conservative MP Rachael Thomas was also removed from the session separately for calling Fergus as “disgrace.”
Trudeau did not respond to the substance of Poilievre’s objection, choosing instead to suggest the Conservative leader is a “white nationalist.”
“The leader of the Conservative Party is actively courting the support of groups with white nationalist views. It is disturbing, and he needs to stand up and apologize now,” Trudeau demanded, calling Poilievre “spineless.”
The Conservative leader has continued to accuse Trudeau of supporting “wacko” drug policies in the aftermath of his removal. In messages on social media, Poilievre has repeated that Trudeau is “refusing to ban public use of meth, cocaine, & illicit fentanyl. That’s wacko.”
“Today the Liberal speaker censored me for describing Trudeau’s hard drug policy as wacko. 6 people dying from overdoses every day in BC is wacko,” he wrote. “Kids playing next to used syringes is wacko. Nurses worried about breastfeeding after breathing in toxic drug fumes is wacko. This is a wacko policy from a wacko PM that’s destroying lives.”
Eby, the premier of British Columbia, appeared to agree with the return to a more traditional hard drug ban.
“There are important lessons to be learned on where we are to date, that don’t need to be repeated,” he said on Monday, urging other areas like Toronto not to “repeat our mistakes.”
“Addressing the public’s concern around public use is critical to having their understanding about taking a health approach to addiction. Balancing those two things is core, and I hope other jurisdictions take that lesson and don’t repeat our mistakes,” the CBC quoted Eby as saying.
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