A New Brunswick Conservative MP is pushing to bring back mandatory jail time for drug offences.
Fundy Royal MP Rob Moore introduced a private member’s bill in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
“The bill before us would target the criminals who are fuelling an industry that is built on pain, misery and death,” said Moore.
The bill would reinstate mandatory jail time for criminals who produce, import and export drugs such as meth, heroin, cocaine and fentanyl.
Trudeau government legislation passed two years ago, known as Bill C-5, removed several mandatory minimum penalties.
“Producers, importers and exporters of dangerous drugs are benefiting from Liberal soft-on-crime policies like Bill C-5, which eliminated mandatory jail time for those who prey on vulnerable Canadians suffering from addiction,” said Moore.
Moore said an average of 22 Canadians die every day from drug overdoses, and most of those deaths involve fentanyl.
It will be impossible, he said, to address Canada’s opioid crisis without acknowledging the growing criminal involvement.
