Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre wrapped up a three-day southwestern Ontario tour with a stop at Challenger Motor Freight in Cambridge Friday afternoon.
Aside from mingling with workers, he continued to lay out his plan and drive home his platform messaging as he attempts to become the next Prime Minister.
Poilievre was emphatic about getting drugs off the streets, an issue that's impacted Cambridge among many other municipalities across the country.
Locally, FunGuyz, a magic mushroom shop operating illegal out of a storefront on King Street East in Preston, has been raided numerous times by police only to reopen in the following days.
The answer, according to Poilievre, is stiffer punishments and the diversion of funding to treatment and rehabilitation to help people suffering from addiction.
"Let's ban the drugs for real and have the prosecutors, prosecute," Poilievre said when asked about local drug issues.
"Stop giving out tax funded opioids that are being diverted to children. The London police chief said that thousands of opioid pills paid for with tax dollars, supposedly that are safe, are actually being sold onto the black market to fund more dangerous fentanyl for harder users. I want to put all the resources into treatment and recovery."
Poilievre said the issue isn't a matter of resources within the community but rather the money and time being used to arrest re-offenders.
"The problem is we're wasting billions of dollars re-arresting and re-trying the same tiny group of a couple thousand criminals over and over again," he said.
"The country is being terrorized by about four or five thousand horrendous career criminals that literally commit seven to eight crimes per week. Right now there's no deterrents. We need jail not bail for repeat violent offenders."
Recent data released by StatsCan shows a troubling trend when it comes to crime.
In Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo, violent criminal code violations have risen from 4,423 in 2015 to 9,687 in 2023. Sexual assaults and auto theft are also on the rise.
A recent poll run by Village Media showed people under 40 had a more favourable outlook of Poilievre.
Cost of living and its impact on the community is among the concerns of many, including young people, as the next federal election draws near.
"You don't have to live this way," Poilievre said.
"We can bring home the Canada we knew and love. You can have the same opportunities or better than your parents had. I'm offering the hope that hard work will pay off.
