FIRST READING: Vancouver objects to ‘hell on earth’ characterization by Poilievre

The Tory leader was referencing the 'failed' addiction policies of the city's Downtown Eastside

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TOP STORY

Less than a week after they became the first jurisdiction in Canada to decriminalize the possession of hard drugs, B.C. politicians are objecting to their characterization by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre as a “hell on earth.”

Specifically, Poilievre was pointing to Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, a long-time hub of open-air drug use that has been an epicentre of both fatal overdoses and government efforts to alleviate them.

“The Trudeau/NDP approach is on open display in Vancouver. It is a complete disaster. It is hell on earth,” Poilievre told reporters on Parliament Hill last week.

Ken Sim recently won election as Vancouver mayor in part due to a campaign in which he similarly called out the city as a nest of crime and public disorder. As recently as August, Sim described Vancouver as being plagued by a “public safety and mental health crisis.”

Nevertheless, Sim was more defensive when asked his reaction to the “hell on earth” comments. “I don’t think Vancouver is hell on earth. I think Vancouver is an amazing city and we have so much going for us,” he said during an interview with CityNews Vancouver.

Sim added that they have some “challenges,” but that they are “absolutely” being addressed.

In a later statement, Sim condemned Poilievre directly, saying the comments were “neither appropriate nor constructive.” “We do not support anyone using our most vulnerable residents to advance a political agenda,” he said.

Newly appointed B.C. Premier David Eby has similarly taken a harder-than-average line against the growing spectre of public disorder in B.C. cities. One of his first actions as premier was to toughen bail laws in order to stem the chronic release of repeat violent offenders.

“The goal is to save lives, to get between predatory drug dealers and people with serious addictions issues, and we want to get between those with doctors and nurses, and so part of that is around our safe supply initiative,” said Eby.

A feature in the Toronto Star also took aim at the “hell on earth” comments by characterizing the Downtown Eastside as a “unique community of people trying to protect themselves and support each other.” “It’s got a magic that’s hidden beneath the sort of rough exterior,” says a man named Scotty who was interviewed as he helped watch for drug users collapsing from overdoses.

In recent months, Poilievre has campaigned against the “harm reduction” approach to drug addiction that has prevailed across Canada and ultimately has its origins in Vancouver.

In a November video shot next to a Downtown Eastside tent encampment, Poilievre characterized the city’s large community of addicts as victims of a “failed experiment.” “This is a deliberate policy by woke Liberal and NDP governments to provide taxpayer-funded drugs, flood our streets with easy access to these poisons,” he said.

If Conservatives are to form government after the next election, Poilievre has said he would reverse decriminalization and prioritize a shift towards treatment and detoxification.

1. 

   Adam Zivo: The silencing of drug addiction experts who criticize 'safe supply'

2. 

   Adam Pankratz: Maybe B.C.'s drug addicts should have to face shame and stigma

IN OTHER NEWS

Last week, Justice Minister David Lametti announced that the Trudeau government would be waiting another year before extending assisted suicide to the mentally ill. Under a 2021 Liberal law that significantly liberalized access to MAID, next month was supposed to see assisted suicide legalized for Canadians whose only underlying illness was a mental health condition. Lametti didn’t provide many details as to why, only that the government was taking the “time to get this right.” The Conservatives praised the pause, but said it’s a sign that the Trudeau government may just now be acknowledging that they went too hard and too fast on assisted suicide. “They made a decision to go ahead with a radical expansion of MAID without determining first whether it is appropriate whether it can be done safely,” said Tory MP Michael Cooper.

Speaking of assisted suicide, the Canadian euthanasia regime was the subject of a recent investigative feature (Canada’s Ministry of Death) in the National Review, a conservative U.S. monthly. One interesting thread traced by author Alexander Raikin was the strong behind-the-scenes influence of Dying With Dignity Canada, a lobby group that saw heavy support from Moses Znaimer, the owner of Zoomer Magazine. “In every interview that I did with disability advocates or physicians skeptical of euthanasia-on-demand, I asked why they thought euthanasia in Canada had become such an industry,” wrote Raikin. “The answer was always the same: ‘Dying with Dignity Canada.’”

The Toronto Star has previously come out in support of “putting the brakes” on the Canadian MAID regime, but over the weekend they published a particularly bizarre take on assisted suicide from contributor Samantha Israel. Israel described a severely depressed friend once begging for a ride to a nearby bridge so she could leap to her death. The friend has since recovered and feels “lucky to have survived” her depressive episode. Nevertheless, Israel asserts that it’s the state’s duty to ensure that people in her friend’s state have the freedom to seek suicide on demand. “And because I’ve witnessed her suffering firsthand, this time I think I would drive her,” she writes.

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