OTTAWA — A Conservative government would bring in mandatory life sentences for those convicted of trafficking, producing or exporting more than 40 mg of fentanyl, Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday.
"Let's call fentanyl trafficking what it is: mass murder," the Conservative leader told a news conference in Vancouver. He compared selling the drug to "spraying bullets into a crowd."
The Conservatives also want traffickers caught with between 20 mg and 40 mg of the drug to be sentenced to a mandatory 15 years in prison.
To do that, Poilievre said he would repeal changes made to the Criminal Code and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in 2022 that ended some mandatory minimum sentences and allowed for conditional sentences or diversion programs for simple possession convictions.
The Supreme Court of Canada struck down a number of mandatory minimum penalties in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act in a 2016 decision, after ruling they were unconstitutional.
Poilievre said he interprets the law differently.
"What I am proposing today is not only allowed under the Charter, it is required by the Charter," he said.
He said "locking up the mass murderers that bring these drugs in" would protect Canadians' Section 7 rights to life, liberty and the security of the person. He noted that 49,000 Canadians have died of opioid overdoses since 2016.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says two milligrams can kill a person. Health Canada says "a few grains" can be deadly.
Fentanyl trafficking has been in the spotlight since U.S. President Donald Trump took office threatening to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico because of what he said was the countries' failure to keep the drug from entering the U.S.
He signed an executive order on Saturday that declared the flow of illegal drugs and migrants into the U.S. a national security risk, and used that emergency to order sweeping tariffs on Canadian goods.
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau outlined Canada's plan to boost border security and appoint a "fentanyl czar," in two calls with Trump on Monday, the president reversed course and delayed the implementation of tariffs for a month.
Poilievre said that regardless of whether people agree with Trump's rationale for threatening tariffs, Canada shouldn't be taking action "just to please him."
He also dismissed the Liberals' move to appoint a "fentanyl czar" as "performative."
The Conservative leader said action must be taken to protect Canadians from an overdose crisis.
"We will come to the rescue of victims and addicts, we will provide life-saving treatment," Poilievre said. He pledged a Conservative government would "take people off the streets" and provide residential treatment, including sweat lodges for Indigenous people addicted to opioids.
He has said previously he would defund programs that provide prescribed narcotics to people facing a heightened risk of overdosing due to a toxic street drug supply.
Poilievre has been critical of the term "safer supply" and has said such programs allow users to sell prescribed alternatives like hydromorphone on the street.
The Conservative leader also has expressed support for the idea of mandatory, involuntary drug treatment for minors and people in prison.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2025.
David Baxter and Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press
