OTTAWA - The federal government's crackdown on drug-impaired driving has taken a big step forward, as the Justice Department is set to give its blessing to Canada's first roadside saliva test. Once in use, police officers will be able to swab a driver's mouth to test for the presence of THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. Roadside saliva-testing devices were authorized by Bill C-46, a massive overhaul of Canadaas impaired driving laws that passed in June. [continues 705 words]
The government's leader in the Senate, Peter Harder, slammed the committee's removal of the provision OTTAWA - In a controversial move that may set up another showdown with the House of Commons, a Senate committee voted on Wednesday night to remove random alcohol testing from the government's impaired driving legislation. The provision would allow police to demand a breathalyzer test from any driver regardless of whether police had reasonable grounds to believe the driver had consumed alcohol. Currently police need that reasonable suspicion to make the breathalyzer demand, which drivers are punished for refusing. [continues 625 words]
Edmonton police will need about $1.4 million in ongoing and one-time funding to prepare for marijuana legalization this summer, a report to the police commission states. Cannabis is set to become legal in Canada this summer and with it comes higher policing costs, the Edmonton Police Commission heard Thursday. Police officials outlined a laundry list of new technology and training needed to enforce legal weed laws. Last month, the city approved $1.4 million in one-time and ongoing funding to help the police service deal with the impact of legal weed. [continues 538 words]
OTTAWA - A Senate committee says Ottawa should put off legalizing marijuana for a year until Canada and First Nations can negotiate tax sharing, produce culturally appropriate education materials and ensure First Nations are able to regulate for themselves whether they want pot to be legal in their communities or not. The Senate Aboriginal Peoples committee released a report Tuesday after studying the impact the government's legalizing pot bill could have on Indigenous communities. While Ottawa plans to make pot legal sometime this summer, the committee says Indigenous [continues 320 words]
Canada's real estate industry organization is calling for a moratorium on growing recreational marijuana at home until the government sets out nationwide regulations for the practice. Ottawa's proposed marijuana legalization regulations allow Canadians to grow up to four marijuana plants at their residences. Medical users are already allowed to grow at home after a federal court ruled in 2016 that the government cannot ban patients from growing their own cannabis. However, the Canadian Real Estate Association said the ban it is requesting applies to home cultivation for recreational users when marijuana legalized later this year. [continues 636 words]
The Senate seems determined to slow the Liberal government's timeline for marijuana legalization and Justin Trudeau seems just as determined to deliver his legalization on time - give or take a few weeks. The prime minister will get his way, but that doesn't mean the Senate, and Indigenous leaders, are not flagging some important issues. Opposition Conservatives would like nothing more than to push the rollout of legal recreational pot into an election year, the better to take political advantage of the inevitable stumbles that will come with such a momentous move. [continues 649 words]
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn't backing down from his government's much-maligned timeline for legalizing marijuana, despite a growing chorus of calls from senators, Indigenous leaders and others to delay the plan for up to a year. Trudeau says the plan to make recreational pot legal by this summer will go ahead without delay. "We're going to continue to move forward. We're going to bring in legalization as we've committed to this summer on schedule," Trudeau said Thursday. [continues 504 words]
When Justin Trudeau promised to legalize the use of recreational marijuana, he no doubt felt it would be one of his easiest and most rewarding tasks as Canada's new and uber-cool prime minister. He vowed to make it a priority and change the laws within two years. Fast-forward to last month, almost 2 1/2 years later, and Bill C-45, to legalize cannabis, faced an unexpected pushback from a Senate that threatened to send it packing. Trudeau took this chance to warn his supposedly independent senators that their job description didn't call for them to defeat bills proposed by the very government that had bestowed upon them their most honourable appointments. [continues 574 words]
OTTAWA - Last month, at a city council meeting in Kelowna, B.C., the ranking RCMP officer was giving his quarterly update on policing when a councillor posed a question about marijuana. "I know that when I go out for the evening, I can have a beer, and I know the alcohol content in that beer," said Coun. Ryan Donn. "I know that one would be a good limit for myself to have before getting in a car and driving. "When I think about cannabis, I really, truly have no idea," he went on. [continues 1462 words]
A provincial government commitment to provide $ 40 million to help municipalities cover the costs of pot legalization is a starting point, says Mayor Chris Friel. But Friel remains critical of the Ontario government's approach to the legalization of marijuana saying the increased law enforcement and safety costs are just one part of the overall picture. "I'd say that it's a starting point because right now no one really knows what the extra costs will be," Friel said. "But again I ask: where is the public consultation? [continues 472 words]
Investment firm head says he'd spend $25,000 to fight cannabis-impaired driving provisions As experts warn of flaws with the cannabis-impaired driving provisions of Bill C-46, a high-profile Canadian cannabis industry executive has vowed to bankroll a future court challenge against that aspect of the proposed law. Chuck Rifici, the CEO of cannabis industry investment firm Wheaton Income Corp., and the former chief financial officer of the Liberal Party of Canada, said he would commit up to $25,000 to fund such a challenge. [continues 1087 words]
Scientists and lawyers are raising a series of concerns over Ottawa's plans to combat drug-impaired driving, saying the proposed regime is not based on evidence and will struggle to withstand legal challenges. Bill C-46, which would create new drug-impaired driving offences, is currently being studied in the Senate, where there is growing pressure on senators to amend the proposed legislation before it comes into law. The government wants the new rules in place before cannabis is legalized for recreational use, a move expected in late summer. [continues 741 words]
OTTAWA * The military is currently wrestling with the implications of marijuana legalization, Canada's top general says - including time restrictions on using the drug before going on duty. "We're going to try to be smart about it," chief of defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance said on Monday. "But in the end, this is dangerous duty, this is serious duty for the country, and we don't want people doing it stoned." Vance's comments came during an appearance before the Senate defence committee, where he was largely grilled on the troubled military procurement system, peacekeeping and efforts to stamp out sexual misconduct in the Forces. [continues 299 words]
City officials are looking for input as they deal with the ramifications of legalized recreational marijuana. "There are a lot of questions, a lot of unknowns and I think it's important that we try to come up with a 'made in Brantford' solution to some of these issues," Mayor Chris Friel said Tuesday. "I think we need to hear from more people, let them know what the issues are and see what we can come up with. "We need to hear from the chamber of commerce, the health unit, police, real estate people as well as our own staff in social services and bylaw enforcement." [continues 440 words]
The ongoing effort in the Senate to derail the passage of the Liberal government's bill to legalize marijuana is not an exercise in sober second thought, as its Conservative proponents claim, but an attempt to obstruct democracy. The Trudeau government should use the tools at its disposal to push this important legislation through the Upper House. Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, and C-46, which would tighten rules on impaired driving related to marijuana use, have been before the Senate since the Commons passed them in late November. And they may languish there forever if the government does not invoke so-called time allocation, a tool for curtailing debate that the Liberals have largely eschewed. [continues 491 words]
The federal government is threatening to force a vote in the Senate to speed up the adoption of the marijuana-legalization bill, stating industry and governments need a clear timeline to a legal-cannabis market. This government has never imposed time allocation in the Senate, but it says it will have no choice if Conservative senators use procedural tricks to delay the legislation. In a speech on Tuesday, the government's representative in the Senate, Peter Harder, said he wants a vote to send Bill C-45 to committee before the start of a two week break on March 1. He said that if he does not obtain all-party support for his proposal, he will move a motion to force a vote. [continues 517 words]
OTTAWA - The federal government is moving to ensure the Senate doesn't hold up its plans to legalize recreational marijuana in July. The government's representative in the upper house, Sen. Peter Harder, served notice Tuesday that he wants second reading debate on Bill C-45 wrapped up by March 1, after which it would go to committee for detailed examination before returning to the chamber for a final debate and vote. If the various Senate factions won't agree to that timetable, Harder warned he will move a motion to impose time allocation to cut off debate - the first time he's threatened to resort to that tactic since taking on the role of government representative two years ago. [continues 305 words]
The country's biggest airlines, train and trucking firms, construction companies and transit authorities are urging the government to allow them to conduct mandatory drug tests for key members of their work forces. The issue of testing is currently in front of the Senate, where two bills are being studied: C-45 to legalize cannabis by the summer, and C-46 to make it easier for law-enforcement authorities to crack down on impaired driving. Ottawa wants C-46 to be adopted before the prohibition on cannabis is lifted to deal with the potential consequences of increased consumption. Among other things, the legislation will create new drug-impaired driving offences and make it easier for police to conduct random roadside tests for alcohol. [continues 636 words]
Three federal ministers are set to defend their government's plans to legalize cannabis in the Senate amid widespread concerns over Ottawa's ability to crack down on drug-impaired driving once the recreational market opens up later this year. The Senate is currently studying two bills, C-45 and C-46, that respectively will lift the prohibition on the recreational consumption of marijuana and create new drug-impaired driving offences. On Tuesday afternoon, the federal ministers of Justice, Health and Public Safety will appear at a special session of the Senate to answer questions about the plan to legalize cannabis for recreational use by all adults by July 1. [continues 586 words]
The federal with a handful of minor revisions, passed its third and final reading in the House of Commons November 27 and has moved on to the Senate for further review and discussion. A total of 200 Members of Parliament voted in favour of the legislation - Bill C-45 - with 82 voting against it. Following the final vote, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted "we're one step closer to legalizing & regulating marijuana. #BillC45 means less money for organized crime and harder access for our kids." [continues 383 words]
Canadian Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs
