IF you want to know how quickly this country is turning over a new leaf, consider the curious case of Julian Fantino. The tough-on-crime former Toronto police chief was eager to help lead the war against drugs - including cannabis - during his time as a cabinet minister in Stephen Harper's government. In fact, the record from the 2015 federal campaign is filled with public stands Fantino took about the danger of legalizing marijuana. And today? Well, the former politician has had his own epiphany on the pot-marked road to the legalization of marijuana. [continues 517 words]
Justin Trudeau sits down with Free Press editor Paul Samyn to talk about urgent legislation, First Nations, marijuana... and Stephen Harper PRIME Minister Justin Trudeau sat down with Winnipeg Free Press editor Paul Samyn for an exclusive interview Thursday. The event, held at the Winnipeg Free Press News Cafe, was a fulfilment of promise Trudeau had made to the newspaper. "I was here a few years ago, and one of the promises I made - and it's great when a politician can keep promises - was to come back," said the casually dressed Trudeau. [continues 2735 words]
Law-And-Order Representatives Will Sit On Judicial Advisory Committees OTTAWA -- Canada's cops are about to get a say over who can be a federal judge under changes Justice Minister Vic Toews is set to unveil soon. The latest part of the Tories' law-and-order agenda will see police representatives added to the judicial advisory committees operating in each province that assess the qualifications of potential judges. But given the way Toews has previously railed against activist judges with Liberal ties, his plan to reform the system is also raising suspicions his real goal is to make it easier to put a Tory stamp on the country's judiciary. [continues 699 words]
Ottawa Won't Give Provinces Money To Cover Increase In Cost Of Jails OTTAWA -- The Harper government will make those convicted of serious crime do serious time, but won't give the provinces serious cash to cover an increase in jail costs. While the Conservatives have set aside $245 million to help pay for a new medium-security federal prison to deal with an expected spike in the number of inmates from new mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes, no financial aid is planned for provinces footing the bill for an end to house arrest for serious crimes. [continues 504 words]
More Inspectors Promised to Target Key Ingredients PRIME Minister Paul Martin is ready to steer more resources to Health Canada to help fight the illegal flow of stimulants to crystal meth labs. In an interview on the eve of today's campaign visit to Winnipeg, Martin said he has given Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh the green light to increase the number of inspectors waging what has been a losing war in keeping tabs on the flow of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. "I have authorized (Dosanjh) that, if in fact, further personnel are required, then they will be made available," Martin told the Free Press yesterday. [continues 1229 words]
Accused In Manitoba Addiction Centre Scandal OTTAWA -- Key officials at the Virginia Fontaine Addictions Foundation are now alleging that two senior Health Canada employees were part of a conspiracy to misuse millions of tax dollars. The court documents obtained by the Free Press mark the first time that senior staff from the treatment centre north of Winnipeg have fingered Paul Cochrane, the ex-Health Canada assistant deputy minister, Aline Dirks, his executive assistant, and VFAF president Perry Fontaine for alleged financial irregularities that are the subject of a massive RCMP fraud probe. [continues 584 words]
OTTAWA -- It was meant as a joke, but that didn't stop Prime Minister Jean Chretien's quip about possibly smoking pot in retirement from making headlines around the world yesterday. Reuters put Chretien's crack on cannabis -- made in an interview with the Free Press -- on its global wire service. The story was picked up by the U.S. Internet Web site, the Drudge Report, which rose to fame with its scoops on the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky scandal. [continues 401 words]
A Proud Prime Minister Reflects on His Past, Muses About His Future and Jokes About Trying Pot OTTAWA -- For a prime minister under siege, Jean Chretien is a surprisingly liberated politician. His party wants him to fast-forward his retirement date. Paul Martin is increasingly invading his turf. And party fundraisers like the one Chretien will speak at tonight in Winnipeg are no longer hot tickets. But sitting at the oak desk on Parliament Hill, which has been his domain for the past 3,621 days, there are no signs of stress, no hint of disappointment. [continues 1709 words]
Vocal Opposition Have Deep Concerns With Proposal OTTAWA -- The Chretien government's bill to decriminalize marijuana is already in danger of dying on the order paper as it faces a potentially lethal mix of internal Liberal dissent and parliamentary deadlines. Just one day after the Liberals introduced the landmark legislation, Grit backbenchers opposed to the pot bill were preparing for its burial. And even those backing the bill were conceding an already heavy parliamentary agenda may make it impossible to pass it into law before the end of the year and a change in the Liberal leadership. [continues 546 words]
Cauchon Being Sneaky About New Drug Law OTTAWA -- Could it be a case of reefer madness? We know he smoked up because he told us. But that was long ago. Still, this was a strange week for Martin Cauchon, the man in charge of Canada's justice system, who by now was supposed to have introduced a bill to decriminalize pot. First, Cauchon thought it would be a good idea to skip on down to Washington to have a little chat with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft about his coming pot plan. But for some reason, Cauchon didn't think it was a good idea to let anyone back home know that he was planning to make a run for the border last Tuesday. Fortunately, someone with a far better sense of politics and the public interest thought otherwise and decided to tip off reporters about what, by any measure, was an important meeting that could have an impact on Canada-U.S. relations. [continues 450 words]
Let MPs See It, NDP, Tories Fume OTTAWA -- Prime Minister Jean Chretien yesterday maintained his government will continue to take a tough line on drug trafficking and sent Justice Minister Martin Cauchon to Washington to soothe U.S. fears over plans to decriminalize pot. "We are modernizing the sentences for marijuana; we are not making it legal," Chretien said following a cabinet discussion of the bill, which could be introduced as early as tomorrow. "They (penalties) will be different. They will be tougher for the growers, the traffickers, and less tough for the people who use it in small quantities, but it is still illegal." [continues 405 words]
Commons committee recommends fines for possession of marijuana OTTAWA -- The Canadian Alliance pounced yesterday on a Commons committee recommendation that Canadians caught smoking small amounts of marijuana should face fines -- not a criminal record. The latest call for a relaxing of the country's hard line on drugs comes just days after federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said the government may introduce legislation to decriminalize pot by the spring. The special committee on the non-medical use of drugs said yesterday pot poses health risks and it would be a mistake to legalize it. [continues 464 words]
OTTAWA -- The first batch of medicinal marijuana grown in a Flin Flon mine was not destroyed by burning as reported, Health Canada said yesterday. Farah Mohamed, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Anne McLellan, said her minister was misquoted in La Presse and the newspaper will run a correction. "She never said burned," Mohamed said. La Presse quoted McLellan saying the entire crop was burned because it was uneven. Mohamed said the first crop is being used to develop research grade marijuana and determine its chemical profile. [continues 75 words]
Government Should Allow Use at Age 16, Report Says OTTAWA -- Marijuana should be legalized and sold at government-run stores to Canadians as young as 16, a Senate committee recommended yesterday. The radical report -- it goes beyond decriminalization or even the kind of tolerance shown in such cannabis-friendly jurisdictions as the Netherlands -- also urges the federal government to provide amnesty to those convicted of pot possession under both current and past laws. The report was hailed by marijuana activists outside of the Winnipeg Law Courts Building, but fiercely condemned by the Canadian Police Association as "a back-to-school gift for drug pushers." [continues 807 words]
OTTAWA -- Canada's first crop of medicinal marijuana grown deep within a Flin Flon mine shaft is suddenly no longer ready to be toked and Health Canada has no idea when its much-ballyhooed joints will be in the hands of waiting patients. In a surprising turnaround for the internationally ground-breaking project, distribution plans are being put on hold for clinical trials. "We need to fully understand what the risks and benefits are," Farah Mohamed, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Anne McLellan said yesterday. [continues 346 words]
