Government falling behind on cannabis public education, say critics
Health Canada says it will launch a national public education advertising campaign on cannabis in the spring, though critics say it should have already been in place in order to educate the public ahead of the July 1 legalization deadline. The impaired driving campaign run by Public Safety,“Don’t Drive High”, has been popping up in […]
Must cannabis be grown in Fort Knox?
As the first federal party in Canada to advocate for an end to the futile and counter-productive prohibition policy towards cannabis, the Green Party of Canada welcomes this government’s commitment to legalization. Unfortunately, these efforts are marred by something of a “reefer-madness” mindset. I attempted to amend the legislation to eliminate the extremely severe penalties […]
Cannabis
Where’s the beef? Industry stakeholders cry foul over Health Canada food guide freeze-out
Industry groups shut out of in-person consultations with Health Canada in its current effort to overhaul Canada’s Food Guide have delivered their concerns—and their own set of potentially competing goals—to politicians and other federal departments. Health Canada declared in 2016 that it would not meet one-on-one with industry groups while revamping its food guidelines because […]
We should tax meat and subsidize fruits and vegetables
Nothing elicits grumbles quite like talking about taxes. Governments around the world tax income, carbon, alcohol, tobacco, sugar, houses, inheritances, even saturated fat. And these taxes can be not insignificant; in Canada, for example, 35 per cent of the pump price for gas is tax. If a group of investors managing trillions of dollars is […]
G7 is Canada’s chance to ‘galvanize’ action on feminist policy: World Vision
When Canada takes the stage as host of June’s G7 Summit, the Liberals should take advantage of the “international moment” to encourage action on education of girls in crisis, according to the head of World Vision Canada. But opposition critics warn any promises made would be coming from a government with a history of “not […]
Only the poor die screaming
LONDON, U.K.—If you had a million dollars to spend (but not on yourself), where would it do the most good? Well, the cost to cover morphine or a morphine-equivalent pain-relief treatment for all the sick children younger than 15 years who are in serious pain in low-income countries would be just $1-million per year. About […]
Despite cancer and critics in her own party, Sen. Greene Raine aims for legislative podium as she approaches retirement
In May, Nancy Greene Raine will retire from yet another high-profile career. But instead of Olympic medals, she’ll likely be hoisting her government-backed legislation that aims to stop the marketing of junk food to kids. Conservative Sen. Greene Raine (Thompson-Okanagan-Kootenay, B.C.) will reach the Upper Chamber’s mandatory retirement age of 75 on May 11. And […]
Sen. Unger relies on incomplete representation to argue her case against marijuana legalization
Re: “Marijuana legislation will not achieve its objectives and should be defeated,” (The Hill Times, online, Dec. 20, 2017). There are so many unsubstantiated or categorically false claims in Conservative Senator Betty Unger’s opinion piece that selecting only a few to discuss seems an impossible task. As we have already seen countless times by her […]
Senate delays: just another urban myth
Everyone knows that the Senate delays government legislation. Don’t we? Well, no we don’t. In fact, the House of Commons tends to take almost three times as long to deal with government legislation as the Senate does. This incontestable fact is based on an actual count of official parliamentary records over the last ten parliaments […]
