Poilievre rolls out plan to get 50,000 people treated for drug addiction

NEW WESTMINSTER — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rolled out his strategy to tackle drug addiction Sunday, announcing a plan to fund recovery treatment for 50,000 people facing addiction.

According to a Government of Canada website, 50,928 deaths attributed to opioids were reported between January 2016 and September 2024.

Speaking from a conference room in New Westminster, B.C., Poilievre said a Conservative government would provide treatment centres with set amounts of funding based on the number of months they keep their clients drug-free.

Poilievre said that under the new funding model, organizations that successfully get people off drugs would receive funding and would be paid more for dealing with “harder cases.”

A “causal drug user” who is trying to break the addiction might not need much funding, he said.

“It could be 10 or 15 counselling sessions for that person,” he added.

Poilievre said more funding would be provided for more complex cases, such as individuals facing homelessness.

He also said a government led by him would cut off funding to organizations running harm reduction programs.

“Those organizations and interest groups who have been contributing to and complicit in the distribution of high-powered opioids and the harm production programs will be cut off, and they will be totally ineligible for any funding,” Poilievre said.

He said a Conservative government would expand access to recovery services with “proven track records.”

During the announcement, Poilievre also singled out Gregor Robertson, the Liberal candidate for Vancouver Fraserview-South Burnaby and former Vancouver mayor and B.C. NDP member of the legislature, for his stance on drug consumption sites.

Poilievre said as Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s “star Liberal candidate” in Vancouver, Robertson is an “early advocate of drug decriminalization and unsafe government-funded supply.”

Poilievre then quoted some passages from a 2017 open letter Robertson sent to the House of Commons on the topic of Bill C-37, saying that Robertson thinks the local community’s opposition to the consumption sites should, in Poilievre’s words, “be ignored.”

Ottawa introduced Bill C-37 in the House of Commons in 2016 as a response to the national public health crisis of drug overdoses. The legislation was crafted to streamline the application process for the creation of supervised drug consumption sites.

In the letter to the Standing Committee on Health, Robertson, who was acting as mayor at the time, was proposing minor modifications to enhance this legislation.

He wrote that Vancouver was grateful the federal government was taking an evidence-based approach to treat the addiction as a health issue instead of a criminal issue. Robertson also listed two suggestions, including that the application process associated with exemptions to operate supervised injection sites should be further streamlined.

“Factors such as the impact of the site on crime rates and expressions of community support or opposition should not be relevant to the federal government’s approval process,” Robertson wrote.

In reading parts of the letter, Poilievre told the crowd and reporters that Robertson means that even if drug consumption sites drive up crime rates in a given community, “they should be able to go ahead.”

But Poilievre left out the rest of what Robertson said. The former mayor’s letter went on, saying that “those issues are local matters and as such are best dealt with by local officials, such as municipalities, health authorities and local police agencies.”

Poilievre said that with the Liberals in power for the last three terms, the party has caused the “addiction crisis to spiral out of control.”

“Liberals want more drug dens in every single community in our country. No wonder that when Gregor Robertson was mayor of Vancouver, overdoses increased by 600 per cent,” Poilievre said.

In an emailed statement to The Canadian Press, Robertson called the attack from Poilievre “desperation” from a politician “who’s clearly losing his grip.”

“As Mayor, I witnessed the devastation of the toxic drug crisis up close. We worked around the clock with health experts, first responders, and frontline leaders to save lives and connect people to urgent care and long-term support,” Roberston said.

Robertson said if elected, Carney’s government will continue to work with law enforcement to keep toxic drugs out of communities while investing in mental health, community supports and addiction recovery programs.

A Conservative Party social media video posted earlier in the day estimated the cost of the party’s addiction recovery program at $250 million per year for four years.

Poilievre said the Conservatives would fund the program by making cuts to the federal government’s existing safer supply programs and by suing opioid manufacturers.

He said a Conservative government would shut down drug consumption sites and ban them from operating within 500 metres of schools, hospitals, daycares, playgrounds and other places where the community is vulnerable.

“Let’s be clear. These drug consumption sites do not work,” Poilievre said.

— Written by Craig Lord in Ottawa and Nono Shen in New Westminster, with files from Catherine Morrison

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 6, 2025.

The Canadian Press