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The federal government announced Tuesday that it will appeal a ruling by the B.C. Court of Appeal that said Vancouver's supervised safe-injection site can remain open.

On Jan. 15, the court ruled against the federal government, which had appealed a ruling by the B.C. Supreme Court that said InSite should remain open because it offered a vital medical service to drug addicts.

The appeal court also found that a supervised safe-injection site falls under the jurisdiction of the province, which oversees health care.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Tuesday the government will appeal the 2-1 ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada because the B.C. court's judgement regarding jurisdiction was not unanimous.

"This case raises important questions regarding the doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity and the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments," Nicholson said in a statement.

"There was a dissenting opinion in the B.C. Court of Appeal, and the government of Canada believes it is important that the Supreme Court of Canada be asked to rule on this matter."

Liberal House Leader Ralph Goodale said Tuesday the government's appeal had little to do with clarification of jurisdiction and accused the Conservatives of trying to shut the site down permanently.

"That's been very clear from day one," Goodale told Â鶹ӰÊÓ Channel's Power Play. "They have opposed this project every step of the way. They've tried every other device to scuttle it, to bring it down and the court proceeding is their last-ditch attempt to do it again."

InSite opened in 2003 and was able to operate under a temporary exemption to federal drug laws. After two extensions to the exemption, the B.C. Supreme Court later awarded the facility a permanent exemption, which the federal government appealed.

Conservative MP Andrew Saxton said the B.C. court's split ruling raises questions about jurisdiction that "need to be decided by the Supreme Court of Canada."

But the government, Saxton said, also believes that a program to combat drug addiction should be focused on prevention and treatment initiatives, as well as tougher laws to curb drug dealing.

"We believe we have to get to the source of the problem, which is with the drug dealers and the drug peddlers, and that's why we've introduced tough new legislation to combat drug dealers and drug peddlers," Saxton told Power Play.

Saxton went on to blame the previously Liberal-dominated Senate for holding up the legislation. But NDP deputy leader Thomas Mulcair said it was the Conservatives who stopped their own tough-on-crime legislation when they prorogued Parliament.

"If the Conservatives believed for one second in their law-and-order rhetoric they would not have prorogued Parliament because that flushed all of the legislation that Mr. Saxton just referred to," Mulcair told Power Play.

"It's pure hypocrisy on the part of the Conservatives and it's pure posturing on their part as well."

After hearing of the government's decision, B.C. Health Minister Kevin Falcon pointed to research that has shown programs like InSite help addicts.

"I'm disappointed because this is a program that has received very widespread independent medical journal support for the outcomes and the efforts they are making on a medical basis to treat some of the most difficult addicts you can imagine," Falcon told The Canadian Press.

"As ministers of the Crown I think we ought to, as best as we can, be guided by the evidence and the facts."