Conservatives slam Carney for claiming fentanyl a 'crisis' in US, but a 'challenge' in Canada

The Conservatives have slammed Mark Carney over his claim that fentanyl in Canada is merely a "challenge," not a "crisis."

Opioids have claimed the lives of nearly 50,000 Canadians since 2015, with fentanyl a leading culprit.

"Fentanyl is an absolute crisis in the United States," Carney said during a tour stop in Kelowna on Wednesday. "It's a challenge here, but it's a crisis there, and us doing what we can to help them with that is absolutely appropriate."

Lax drug policies have been detrimental to communities across Canada, but especially those in British Columbia like Kelowna, where overdoses have skyrocketed, and homeless encampments have sprung up like never before. In BC alone, 2,253 people died drug-related deaths in 2024 — that's six per day.

"Our once-safe towns and cities have been overwhelmed with drugs, death and disorder," the Conservatives lamented. "Police continue to discover 'suberlabs,' capable of making enough fentanyl to kill every Canadian twice over. But according to Mark Carney, this 200 percent increase in annual opioid overdose deaths is not a crisis."

The accused Carney of "hiding from the media, refusing to say whether he supports disastrous NDP-Liberal experiments that have spread misery across Canada."

"The last thing Canadians need is another Just Like Justin Liberal who supports the same destructive and radical policies," the Conservatives added, arguing that only they will "stop handing out taxpayer-funded hard drugs, impose mandatory life sentences on fentanyl kingpins, secure our borders and invest in treatment and recovery to bring home our loved ones drug-free."

Among those who agreed that Canada is dealing with a crisis was Independent MP Kevin Vuong.

"For those who ignorantly claim [Canada]'s fentanyl issue is 'only 43 pounds' or intentionally diminish it: We. Have. A. Crisis," he wrote in a post on X, noting that it's not just about how much of the finished product crosses the border.