Poilievre promises to fund 50,000 addictions recovery spaces

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NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. — Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced Sunday that he will fund centre-based addictions care for 50,000 Canadians if he becomes prime minister.

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Poilievre said at a Sunday morning press conference near Vancouver that it wasn’t a coincidence that this figure matched the rough number of Canadians who’ve succumbed to opioids since a national crisis was declared in 2016.

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“Now that we’ve lost 50,000 to overdoses the least we can do is, in their honour, save 50,000 more,” said Poilievre, flanked by an entourage of supporters, several in recovery themselves.

Poilievre said in an earlier video that a Conservative government will budget an average of $250 million per year for four years to fund residential recovery centres that provide medium- to long-term care to those struggling with addictions.

Part of this sum will be rerouted from $144 million in federal dollars currently earmarked for programs like safer supply, he said.

Poilievre also said he expected some of this funding to be recouped from government lawsuits against the opioid manufacturers that “caused the (opioid) crisis in the first place.”

Purdue Pharma, maker of opioid painkiller OxyContin, agreed to pay $150 million to multiple levels of Canada’s government in a landmark 2022 settlement.

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Poilievre added that he’ll downsize the federal bureaucracy managing addictions and ban “pro-drug organizations” from receiving federal funds.

“No middlemen, no bureaucracy, just real help for those who need it,” said Poilievre.

Poilievre said that the federal network of centre-based care would be patterned after the Alberta recovery model, which has shown early promise in reducing both opioid deaths and deaths linked to other addictive substances like alcohol, cocaine and methamphetamines.

Former three-time White House Office of National Drug Control Policy adviser Kevin Sabet said he welcomed Poilievre’s announcement and hopes the other party leaders will follow in his footsteps.

“Canada desperately needs more treatment beds, and it also needs more levers to get people into those beds. This is an excellent first step that should be non-political, non-partisan, and non-controversial,” said Sabet.

A spokesperson for the Liberal campaign said the party wouldn’t be commenting on the announcement for now.

Poilievre also said Sunday that a Conservative government would ban supervised consumption sites from being set up within 500 metres from schools, playgrounds, daycares, parks and seniors’ homes.

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He added that, as prime minister, he’d change the Controlled Drugs and Substances act to prohibit provinces from unilaterally approving overdose prevention sites.

Poilievre has been a harsh critic of the Liberal government’s drug policies, calling its experiments with decriminalization and safer supply, which gives prescribed opioids to addicts, “a complete disaster.”

Statistics indicate that drug overdoses linked to fentanyl and other deadly opioids are on the decline nationally after peaking in 2021.

Data released by Health Canada in December showed opioid-related deaths fell by 11 per cent in the first half of 2024, compared to the same time period in 2023.

Poilievre’s announcement comes as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten Canada with punitive tariffs over fentanyl, despite pushback from his fellow lawmakers.

The U.S. Senate voted 51 to 48 last to end President Trump’s emergency declaration on fentanyl trafficking that he’s used to justify the tariffs, with four Republicans breaking party ranks to support the motion.

The Senate motion is likely to be voted down in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

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Poilievre said Sunday that Trump’s trade threats won’t change the way he talks about Canada’s fentanyl crisis.

”I have not used rhetoric, I’ve used facts,” said Poilievre in response to a question on the matter.

“The Americans problem with fentanyl has nothing to do with Canada, but at the same time we have to take care of our own people… I totally reject the idea that we cannot solve the problems that are in our own country because of a foreign distraction.”

National Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com

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