Industry players call for regulatory tweaks as empty shelves harsh retailers’ buzz
Some industry experts say the Canadian government’s legal pot regime can be tweaked to help address immediate supply concerns, but the federal minister in charge of overseeing the regulatory system said a national cannabis supply shortage isn’t to blame for unstocked retail shelves in parts of Canada. In an email interview with The Hill Times, […]
Black market, supply chain issues will improve as legal weed market matures, says Blair
The federal minister responsible for the legal cannabis system in Canada says the black market will continue to shrink in 2019 as the legal cannabis market matures. In an email Q&A interview with The Hill Times, Minister for Border Security and Organized Crime Prevention Bill Blair (Scarborough Southwest, Ont.) said the illegal market won’t be […]
Weed or feed? A Canadian food security issue
In December, the University of Guelph and Dalhousie University released the 9th edition of Canada’s Food Price Report, and while the report paints a generally rosy picture of 2019 food prices, partly due to decreasing meat prices and small increases across most food categories, a sobering statistic from the report was that overall food prices are expected to increase by 1.5 to […]
Cannabis
‘I was a kid in a GM household, I thought it was going to survive’: Oshawa-area MPs in disbelief at GM’s looming closure
General Motors’ decision last week to halt operations in Oshawa, Ont., within the next year sent shockwaves throughout the community, with the move deeply felt by two area MPs who once worked for the auto giant. Like many people in the Oshawa-Durham community in Ontario, Conservative MPs Colin Carrie and Erin O’Toole have a personal […]
Lost in Space? Sector awaits long-promised national strategy as delays continue
As the Canadian space sector eagerly awaits a promised and overdue national strategy from Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains, stakeholders say they’re looking to the federal government for certainty on future funding and a firm commitment to re-establish Canada’s reputation as a key contributor on the global stage. The Trudeau Liberal government, as with past governments, […]
Budget bill’s Copyright Act changes undermine committee’s ongoing review, say critics
The Liberals’ decision to include changes to the Copyright Act in the year’s second budget implementation bill has effectively “castrated” the ongoing statutory review of the law, says NDP MP Brian Masse, vice-chair of one of the two committees engaged in the study. Bill C-86, clocking in at 854 pages, includes changes to intellectual property […]
Here’s Taiwan’s trailblazing digital minister’s advice on how the feds can boost service to Canadians
Audrey Tang is not your typical cabinet minister. First off, she’s not really a politician. Ms. Tang, who has called herself an “anarchist,” was asked to be a minister in Taiwan’s government in 2016 after taking part in a protest movement that occupied its Parliament two years earlier. While some cabinet ministers are adept at […]
Why is Health Canada thwarting Parliament’s will?
The problem of regulators becoming captives of the regulated is not new. It’s the idea that a regulator is basically an instrument of the industry it’s meant to regulate. Former Alberta Liberal leader Kevin Taft wrote about it in his book Oil’s Deep State. I see it all around us—in the National Energy Board approach […]
Liberals’ approach to the North is people-driven
Our government’s approach to the North is very much people-driven. Since coming into office in the fall of 2015, the government has made a substantial increase to the Northern Residents Deduction, targeted the Canada Child Benefit to those who need it most, and changed the rules around the Canada Workers Benefit to make it more […]
