Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his Liberal government will make marijuana legal this year and that’s a promise. Fair enough. But there’s a problem.
The opposition Conservatives don’t want pot to be legal, apparently because they don’t approve of such pungent forms of euphoria. So if it isn’t legalized soon and if the Conservatives win power next year, recreational weed will stay in the criminal books.
To be clear, the Conservatives say they won’t “turn back the clock” if they win power after legalization under the Liberals. Leader Andrew Scheer says he wouldn’t decriminalize marijuana.
But the Conservatives voted against the government’s legalization bill in the Commons, which was passed with Liberal and NDP support.
So now Conservative senators seek to stymie legal weed. Their plan is simple: just go slowly.
The Conservatives don’t have to defeat the marijuana bill to achieve their goal. They only have to delay long enough that the bill gets sucked into the engines of the 2019 election campaign, where it will get chewed up and possibly ejected.
Now, these are the same unelected Senate Conservatives famed for their adroit handling of the expenses scandal and the Mike Duffy affair. All good partisans, they want their team to win the next election.
Because Trudeau released Liberal senators from party fealty in the last Parliament, the Conservatives carry more weight by voting as a bloc and on the party line. They’re allied with some independent senators who also oppose legalization.
That’s why timing is so important. The Conservatives, with some independent help, might be able to delay the process long enough to foil one of the Liberals’ key campaign promises.
If so, how very Canadian. Unelected senators of the minority party, revelling in the supposed failed promises of the elected majority, now seek to ensure that yet another promise fails.
I wonder if the estimated 650,000 Canadians with criminal records for marijuana possession agree with those unelected Conservatives. What will the millions think who voted Liberal in 2015 partly to remove the criminal stigma from pot?
There are other interested parties. Many police forces support legalization to free up resources to fight serious crimes. The provinces are sizing up a potential new revenue stream and need the cash.
But the Conservatives’ view of marijuana is straight out of 1955.
Legalization will make weed run rampant in the schools, they say. Growing four plants indoors will create toxic moulds that are somehow not triggered by other kinds of plants. Legal pot will double the number of traffic deaths. It’s Reefer Madness!
The Conservatives have already slowed the bill so that a second-reading vote won’t take place until June 4, rendering impossible the government’s original July 1 date for legalization. But the June 4 vote won’t necessarily end the Senate’s period of deep introspection. It can also propose amendments, which would send the bill back to the Commons for another go-around and likely more delays.
It’s even possible the Senate’s slow walking of the bill could force the government to withdraw it and start over. Then the Liberals really will be up against the 2019 election timeline.
Obviously, there are still some issues that must be worked out before full legalization. The provinces are still writing regulations on retail sales. Programs are needed to keep pot away from kids and to deal with smoking and driving.
Just as important, Indigenous communities should have the right to control marijuana within their jurisdiction, if they choose to exert it.
But Parliament should just get at it.
Canada has been talking about legalizing marijuana since 1969, when a federal commission made it an option. Instead, we’ve had prohibition, promoting a vast black market and turning thousands of otherwise law-abiding Canadians into criminals.
If the legalization founders, unelected senators won’t pay the price. But elected Conservatives will, especially in urban ridings, if they persist in frustrating the substantial ranks of pro-pot voters.
Credit: thechronicleherald.ca
