Our community is hurting. First responders are overwhelmed. Youth overdoses are rising.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It was more than five years ago that this federal government launched its so-called safe supply. It was more than five years ago when they decided the answer to this growing drug crisis was to use federal taxpayer dollars to expand access to hard drugs, not treatment, not recovery, not healing, just drugs. Now, after a half a decade of chaos and heartbreak and a billion spent, what does this government decide to do? In this budget, they choose to walk away. They choose to let mental health and addiction support funding expire, with no plan to renew it, no plan to replace it, and no plan to help Canadians who are living through the consequences of these policies that they've championed. They are passing the responsibility to the provinces and municipalities, claiming it's not their jurisdiction. They should have had that same mindset before starting the safe supply experiment. They're pretending their decisions had nothing to do with this crisis Canadians are facing today. Mr. Speaker, this government set fire to the barn, and now they're walking away hoping for someone else to put out the flames. The human toll of this drug crisis is being borne in large part by those we ask to save lives, our first responders. Recent reporting from City News shows the scale of what they're facing. Vancouver Fire Rescue Services recently answered 54 overdose incidents in one day. The highest number of overdose responses ever recorded by that department, and these are not rare, isolated events. In 2024, the average was between 20 and 25 daily overdose calls. In Waterloo Region, we just had to put out an alert, an overdose safety awareness alert, this week. Meanwhile, an article from Canadian Affairs showcases what paramedics, firefighters, and other frontline workers like our nurses are describing as their mental health and moral injury trauma, not from overdoses, but from the endless cycle of drug-related emergencies they are powerless to resolve. One paramedic candidly described attending calls day after day for the same individuals, often without any resource to offer any long-term help. These are not merely medical emergencies, these are social emergencies, rooted in addiction, homelessness, and untreated mental illness. And yet, first responders regularly arrive at scenes where there is nowhere safe to send people, no capacity for long-term treatment, and no effective wraparound supports. No durable strategy from this federal government to address the root causes. Essentially, we're sending paramedics and firefighters to fight a crisis that requires structural solutions, while giving them nothing but repetition, burnout, and trauma. And, addictions and mental health is mentioned exactly once in this budget, and it's only to say that the funding is ending. Another vulnerable group being affected by this crisis, Mr. Speaker, is our youth. They are now suffering deeply from this drug crisis. The data shows the trend is worsening. And even CBC has recently reported that doctors in London, Ontario are seeing alarming numbers of youth people, some as young as early teens, using opioids and other substances. Another City News report highlights that non-medical prescription opioid use among students jumped 10% in two years. So, given all that, does it make sense for the solution to be funding opioids with taxpayer dollars? Given this information, the common-sense solution would be to crack down on illicit drug networks and use taxpayer dollars to help fund abstinence-based recovery treatment. So, we're witnessing rising drug use, rising overdose risk, and growing addiction among youth, many of whom have started using as children. And yet, we still lack the infrastructure, resources, and political will to properly treat them. Addictions and mental health is mentioned exactly once in this budget, only to say that this funding is ending. The scale of loss in Canada's drug crisis defies comprehension. According to the federal government's own data, 53,821 Canadians have died from overdose since 2016. To put that into perspective, Canada lost approximately 45,000 soldiers in World War II. This country has now lost more people to this drug crisis than we lost in the entirety of the Second World War. Let me repeat that. We have lost more people to this drug crisis than the entirety of the Second World War. Let that sink in. Let's think about this. A global conflict that spanned continents and years took fewer Canadian lives than drugs, untreated addiction, and government failure. And yet, despite the staggering loss, despite the fact that we're losing more Canadians to addiction, than one of the deadliest conflicts in our history, this government has chosen to put zero new funding, zero new programs, and zero new hope into this budget for mental health and addictions. Communities are grieving at wartime scale. Families are burying loved ones larger than wartime scale. And the federal government is responding with silence. Addictions in mental health is mentioned exactly once in this budget, and that's to say that the funding is ending. These are all national examples of how out of hand this drug crisis has gotten. But unfortunately, my community of Kitchener hasn't dodged it. This crisis is not abstract to the people of Kitchener. It's lived daily. Our downtown core, once vibrant, busy, and safe, is struggling. Small businesses are reporting lower foot traffic, rising theft, property damage, and incidents that make customers and staff feel unsafe. Restaurants, cafes, and shops told me directly, patronage is down because people no longer feel comfortable bringing their families downtown. These small businesses are not just storefronts. They're jobs, community anchors, and part of what makes our cities home. They're asking for leadership from this federal government. They're asking for mental health supports, treatment options, and real solutions, not half measures and not abandonment. And yet, addictions in mental health is mentioned exactly once in this budget, and that is to say that the funding is ending. I've had numerous constituents write to me echoing the same thing, not feeling safe downtown and feeling disappointed that this has become their once vibrant and safe community. One wrote to me recently, describing what their family faces every day living near Weber Street. Every single day, I see something that amazes me, and it's even allowed in our community. Just up the road is a hotel filled with homeless individuals, including children, living in conditions where drugs are openly used. I once witnessed a woman shooting up right in front of the window of the Pluto Daycare, in broad daylight while children played inside. Another constituent wrote that after a recent decision allowing Victorian Weber encampment to remain, I have lost all hope in our core. Why must I follow every by-law, shovel my walk, and keep my property safe and clean while their rights extend beyond mine? What about the rest of Kitchener citizens? This ended with the sentence no Canadian should ever have to say. This has become my new normal. This is downtown. I want to feel safe again. I do not know why my family doesn't matter anymore. Mr. Speaker, let me be clear. This is not the fault of people struggling with addictions and mental illness. They are Canadians in pain, deserving of compassion, treatment, and a real chance at recovery. But families in Kitchener, families watching their community deteriorate. They are feeling unheard and abandoned. This government set fire to a barn, and now they are walking away, hoping for someone else to put out the flames. Well, Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand here and say that conservatives will step up and we will put out the flames. I am here to tell Canadians that you do not have to suffer, that there is hope in abstinence-based rehabilitation. The conservative plan offers clear paths out of this, and the failed experiment of safe supply take billions that we are spending to perpetuate misery and invest it into 50,000 real treatment beds, medical detox, and recovery housing. We owe our youth more than quotes and quotes of safe supply and body bags. We owe our first responders more than burnout and despair. We owe 53,000 already lost, more than just a budget announcing that it is going to end. Every Canadian life is worth fighting for, and it is time to bring them home drug-free.