Pubdate: Mon, 27 Mar 2017
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2017 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Page: A5

CANDIDATES HIT CANNABIS PLAN IN NDP DEBATE

The Liberal government's plan to move ahead on marijuana legalization
is up in smoke, NDP leadership candidates suggested during Sunday's
leadership debate in Montreal while they also addressed a range of
issues affecting youth including student debt and precarious work.

B.C. MP Peter Julian, one of four contenders in the race to replace
Tom Mulcair as NDP leader, said the federal government has failed to
keep its 2015 campaign pledge to legalize and regulate pot for
recreational purposes.

For its part, the government says it is working on crafting
legislation on marijuana legalization set to be introduced this spring
- - a move that follows the work of a task force assigned to study the
issue.

"I believe in legalization," Mr. Julian said during the NDP's second
leadership debate. "I do not believe Justin Trudeau is going to bring
in the legalization of marijuana and as proof that … we are still
seeing, particularly young Canadians, being criminalized by simple
possession of marijuana."

Many young people opted to support the Liberals in the most recent
election due to this promise, Manitoba MP Niki Ashton said.

The Liberals ran a cynical campaign in 2015, added Ontario MP Charlie
Angus, suggesting the Liberals ticked all the right boxes, including
on pot, with no intention of pursuing them.

Sunday's debate in Montreal - another instalment in the party's
lengthy leadership race - also featured discussion of skyrocketing
student debt and the need to address tuition fees.

Young people struggle to purchase homes and participate in the
economy, Mr. Caron said Sunday, noting his proposal for a basic income
would help address this issue.

Mr. Caron, an economist, has called for a taxable supplement that
would help those Canadians whose income levels fall below a standard
minimum threshold, determined in part by the size of their family and
the city they live in.

The pitch is designed to complement existing provincial and federal
social programs, not replace them, Mr. Caron says, noting 70 per cent
of those people who are living in poverty are considered working poor:
They have jobs, but they don't earn enough to get by.

University graduates can no longer rely on long-term jobs over the
course of their careers, Ms. Ashton said, noting Canada faces an
"emerging crisis" as a result.

Many young people voted in record numbers in the last federal election
for a Liberal message of change, she added, noting millennials have
had enough of politics that fail them.

"I look out at a number of young people here today, some of whom I had
the chance to hear from about what they are facing in terms of
precarious work," she said. "We are a generation, and I am part of
that generation as well, that risks living a life worse off than their
parents."

Scrapping tuition fees would help students pursue post secondary
education without concerns of crushing student debt, Mr. Julian added.

Mr. Angus is calling for a $15 federal minimum wage, adding young
Canadians are being forced into precarious work and many earn less
than a living wage.

"It is our job in this renewal to reach out to people who feel they
have been written off the political map of this nation to give them
hope but also certainty that when we form government we are going to
do more," he said.

The NDP will name its next leader in October.
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MAP posted-by: Matt