Senate committee split on amendment to delay cannabis bill
Senators on the committee studying the government’s controversial cannabis legalization bill are divided so far on whether to recommend that legalization be delayed by a year, and on how many amendments to the bill should be sent back to the House of Commons. The Senate Social Affairs Committee received reports from three other committees studying […]
Feds ‘not ready’ to roll out cannabis legalization given ‘huge gap’ in police training: critics
Police won’t be ready to properly test Canadians for drug impairment when cannabis is legalized, say critics who point to “terrible” new data showing 665 Canadian police officers as of Feb. 1 are certified to do the additional test if a driver fails the standard sobriety check. That includes 196 RCMP officers, of which 149 […]
Liberals pledge 10 times the money to legalize pot as they do tobacco control
With important elections looming both provincially and federally, it is natural that Canada’s health-care system will a big part of electoral discussions. One in six Canadians is a senior, and that number is expected to be nearly one in four in the next 10 years With an aging population, strategies to address this challenge are […]
Politics This Morning: Trudeau heads to London, U.K.; Petitpas Taylor faces Senate committee; privacy commissioner discusses Cambridge Analytica probe
Good Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will be abroad over the next three days. After meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on his turf, Mr. Trudeau’s next stop will be London, U.K., where he is scheduled to sit down with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth II. But before Mr. Trudeau heads to […]
Senate Foreign Affairs Committee won’t have time to fully examine how sweeping cannabis bill will affect international treaties, says Andreychuk
The Senate Foreign Affairs and International Trade Committee won’t be able to examine all the ways the government’s cannabis legalization bill will affect Canada’s international treaties before reporting back to the Senate by May 1, says Saskatchewan Conservative Senator Raynell Andreychuk, who chairs the committee. “It is going to be very difficult to accomplish what we […]
Senators expected to lobby peers over controversial pot bill amendments, Social Affairs calling the shots
The Senate is breaking new ground with a sweeping study of the marijuana legalization Bill C-45, with five committees tackling the legislation that would fulfill a key Liberal campain promise, and Senators are expected to lobby peers on the Senate’s Social Affairs Committee who will decide which amendments to include or leave out of a […]
Medical marijuana: the forgotten issue in the new law
If the trend continues, once Bill C-45 on legalizing cannabis is passed, Canadians will find themselves in a totally absurd situation. On the one hand, there’s recreational cannabis, which is legal and carefully regulated. On the other, there’s medical marijuana, which is left out and will continue to be distributed solely by mail and without […]
Marijuana hurts kids, and C-45 is a toxic bill, says Sen. Unger
Re: “Sen. Unger relies on incomplete representation to argue her case against marijuana legalization,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 8, p. 8), “Sen. Unger’s got it wrong on marijuana legalization,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 24, p. 8). The Trudeau government has tabled Bill C-45, which, if passed, will legalize the sale and distribution of marijuana and—incredibly—make […]
Feds’ pot legalization could be delayed beyond July 1 deadline
Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor says Ottawa could delay legalizing recreational marijuana for months after necessary legislation is passed into law to allow lower orders of government more time to set up new retail facilities and production channels. “They told us they need eight to 12 weeks following royal assent for preparatory activities to occur, […]
Cannabis legalization will be a mess, says reader
Re: “Cannabis Policy Briefing,” (The Hill Times, Jan. 22, pp. 15-25). Come July 1, this will be a new problem across the country, since provinces are treating it very differently. This reminds me of the famous quote of Laurel and Hardy: “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.” And it will be a mess. […]
