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WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew was applauded by municipal leaders Tuesday as he promised a crackdown on the distribution of methamphetamines, although details of the plan have yet to be revealed.
Kinew told the Association of Manitoba Municipalities that his idea, alluded to in last week’s throne speech, will see a body set up to help co-ordinate drug enforcement among all police agencies in the province.
“When we have other parts of the world sending new, higher-octane meth that is taking advantage of our vulnerable people here in Manitoba, we’ve got to push back,” Kinew told the convention.
“And so we’re taking action. A meth task force — Winnipeg Police Service, RCMP, all the law enforcement agencies including First Nations, working together to bring the hammer down on drug traffickers.”
Kinew later told reporters there will be new provincial resources behind the plan, but the main aim is to co-ordinate police efforts to fight decentralized drug distribution.
“The idea of this vertically integrated Pablo Escobar thing that you’ve been watching on Netflix does not exist anymore,” Kinew said, referring to a TV series about the former Colombian drug lord.
“It’s these little cells of people who are bringing super toxic drugs into our community.”
Kinew has often talked about taking a tough-on-crime approach since his NDP was elected in 2023.
He recently criticized a Supreme Court ruling that said minimum one-year sentences for possessing child pornography are unconstitutional, and he said people who possess child porn should be buried under prisons.
Kinew also criticized the recent statutory release of Shawn Lamb, a man sentenced to 20 years for manslaughter in the 2012 deaths of two Manitoba Indigenous women. He said the killer’s release doesn’t help public confidence in the justice system, and wrote a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney on the issue.
Kinew told the municipal leaders that while he wants to crack down on drug dealers and other criminals, his government is also aiming to help people suffering from addiction.
The government is planning to set up Manitoba’s first supervised drug consumption site in central Winnipeg in January, although it has not divulged the exact location.
Kinew said the province is hoping to submit its application to the federal government in a few weeks, as there are still some details to work out.
The Opposition Progressive Conservatives have said the government has failed area residents by not consulting them about the site, weeks before its opening.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 25, 2025.
Steve Lambert, The Canadian Press
