Protecting the health and safety of Canadians remains our top priority
On Oct. 17, 2018, after extensive consultations with Canadians, study and input from Parliamentarians, and close collaboration with other levels of government, Indigenous organizations, experts and stakeholders, the government of Canada brought the Cannabis Act into force. The legislation delivers on our promise to establish a strict legal framework for the production, distribution, sale and […]
Legalizing pot will not weed out organized crime
On Oct. 17, 2018, the Canadian government legalized the possession and use of recreational marijuana for persons over the age of 18. The government’s stated rationale was, in part, “to keep profits from going into the pockets of criminal organizations and street gangs.” One analog is Canada’s cigarette industry, which continues to fight an uphill […]
Permanent residents should pay the same price as Canadians who drive impaired
It has been more than a month since the Cannabis Act and its companion legislation, Bill C-46, Impaired Driving Act, have come into force. While the Cannabis Act itself was widely discussed in public, there was comparatively little debate about Bill C-46, which may have disastrous consequences for permanent residents in Canada. As per the […]
Cannabis
It’s ‘vital’ feds name Conservatives to security committee soon, or it’ll ‘become problematic’: critics, experts
It’s “vital for the legitimacy” of Parliament’s National Security and Intelligence Committee that the government name Conservative MPs to sit on the body soon or the two Tory vacant seats will become “problematic,” say critics and intelligence analysts. The 11-person National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) is down two members after Conservative MP […]
RCMP forensic lab ‘drowning in work’ as it misses all response targets, internal figures show
The RCMP’s forensic lab is behind on all of its performance targets, failing to complete half of all DNA requests and more than a third of toxicology tests within the target time even as it predicts a huge increase in samples the lab will need to process after changes to the impaired driving law. In […]
Security and Intelligence Committee members should be more actively monitored in wake of Clement scandal: Green Party leader
A national security expert and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May say that in the wake of former Conservative MP Tony Clement’s sexting scandal, members of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians, of which he was a member, should submit to having their online activity, including their private social media exchanges such as direct […]
Bill C-59 empowers our national security agencies by respecting our rights and freedoms
Debate on Bill C-59, the National Security Act, has begun in the Senate, and the position of its opposition critics is already clear: Bill C-59 will weaken national security. They make two general claims. First, that the new system of oversight and review will impose a burden on our intelligence and security agencies and do […]
Supreme Court case to decide on fundamental rights for migrant detainees
The Supreme Court of Canada will hear a case on Nov. 14 to decide whether migrants detained for immigration purposes have the right to challenge their detention using the long-cherished right of habeas corpus. Nine local organizations are intervening in the case of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, et al. v. Tusif […]
Work with Southeast Asia to help stem fentanyl flow, says UN rep
The explosion of synthetic opioids, in many cases originating from Asia, and record-level overdose deaths in Canada means Ottawa needs to engage with the region “in a way that they didn’t have to before,” says a United Nations representative for Southeast Asia. That means paying attention to drug flow and “precursor issues” such as where […]
