Carney’s budget NARROWLY PASSES + B.C. calls drug stigma “colonialist”

Mark Carney survives the budget vote — while B.C.’s Human Rights Commissioner argues opposing hard drug use is racist

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Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government narrowly passed its first budget, avoiding an early election after New Democrats declined to oppose the vote. Carney says the plan protects Canada’s way of life, while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre calls it a “costly credit-card budget” that will drive up the cost of housing, food, and everyday essentials.

At the same time, British Columbia’s Human Rights Commissioner has released a report arguing it is “colonialist” and discriminatory to stigmatize illegal drug use — even as more than 16,000 people have died from overdoses since 2016.

National Post columnist Tristan Hopper joins the program to explain how BC’s harm-reduction experiment reached this point, why overdose deaths keep rising, and why even supporters of decriminalization are now reconsidering the approach.