HAMILTON — Tory leader Pierre Poilievre on Wednesday detailed his party’s plan to deal with the homeless encampment and drug epidemics on Canadian streets.
Poilievre, speaking at a press conference in Hamilton on Wednesday, drew attention to the 1,400 homeless encampments in municipalities in Ontario alone, and said his government has a plan to end the problem through new powers granted to police and the courts, and by focusing on drug rehabilitation.
“It’s unimaginable. It's like something out of the Great Depression in Toronto — the number of homeless encampments more than doubled in just one year, from 82 in 2023 to 200 today,” said Poilievre.
“Homelessness is up 20% since 2018, roughly.”
"Parks where children played are now littered with needles. Small businesses are boarded up and whole blocks of storefronts are shuttered because their owners can't afford to deal with constant break-ins and vandalism."
"Public spaces belong to everyone, but law-abiding citizens, especially families and seniors, are being pushed out to accommodate chaos and violence."
The Tories will amend the Criminal Code to “give police the tools to charge individuals when they endanger public safety or discourage the public from using, moving through, or otherwise accessing public spaces by setting up temporary structures, including tents,” wrote the Conservatives in a statement.
The new laws will ensure police can dismantle illegal encampments and connect individuals living in them who need help with housing, addiction treatment, and mental health services.
The party will give judges the power to order people charged with illegally occupying public spaces with a temporary structure and simple possession of illegal drugs to mandatory drug treatment, said the statement.
“Instead of getting people the help they need, the Liberals abandoned our communities to chaos," Poilievre said.
"Leaving people trapped by their addictions to live outdoors through Canadian winters, sick, malnourished, cold, wet and vulnerable is the furthest thing from compassionate.”