Ruling must be made within three weeks on Ottawa site that community group says has had a 'catastrophic' impact on neighbourhood

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When Mark Carney was asked on the campaign trail about whether federal approval for injection sites would continue under his government, he avoided the contentious topic by saying the effectiveness of those sites was under review.

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Even in his evasion, our new prime minister was undermining the position staked out by his predecessor, Justin Trudeau. When asked about such controversial initiatives as injection sites and the distribution of so-called “safer supply” opioids to those with severe addictions, the latter was fond of insisting his government was simply “following the science.”

If science had decided injection sites were wildly successful and necessary, then why does Carney’s government need to study them?

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As it turns out, Carney and his minority government are going to be called on to conclude their alleged study of injection sites sooner rather than later. This is because the federal drug law exemption (required for injection sites across Canada to operate) expired for a site in the Sandy Hill neighbourhood of Ottawa on April 30.

The Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, which houses the injection site, applied to renew its federal drug law exemption on Jan. 30. Just a few months earlier, another injection site in the same ward, Rideau-Vanier, which is home to three sites, was granted a five-year exemption renewal under