cannabis

Wednesday June 27, 2018

 

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 27, 2018

Doug Ford wants consultations on cannabis sales in Ontario

With the legalization of recreational cannabis now months away, Ontario’s incoming premier said he wants to consult further with municipalities, stakeholders and his caucus before deciding whether to change the plan laid out by his predecessors for the sale of marijuana.

January 23, 2018

The outgoing Liberals had planned to roll out 150 standalone pot stores run by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario by the end of 2020, with the first 40 scheduled to open this year.

Doug Ford, who was elected this month, had previously suggested he would be open to greater privatization of marijuana sales.

But when asked about his plan for pot sales on Thursday, Ford said he’s focusing on the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, which he said already has infrastructure in place that would allow it to sell marijuana once it becomes legal this fall.

“What I said is I’d be focusing on the LCBO. I’m private sector, I don’t believe government should stick their nose into everything, but again, this is a path we have never went down,” he said. “We’re going to tread carefully on this and we’re going to consult with the local municipalities and we’re going to make a decision after we talk to caucus.”

January 23, 2014

The Progressive Conservatives say when the premier-designate talks about focusing on the LCBO, he’s referring to Ontario Cannabis Stores run by the LCBO, as the outgoing Liberal government planned.

Ford also suggested Thursday that Ottawa had left the provinces with little support to prepare for legalization.

“This is a path that the federal government has dumped on all the provinces,” he said.

The federal government announced this week that Canadians will be able to legally purchase recreational marijuana starting Oct. 17. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said legalization was pushed back at the request of several provinces who sought more time to make the transition. (Source: CTV) 

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Tuesday June 26, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday June 26, 2018

Trudeau to visit three cities on Canada Day, skip Parliament Hill festivities

Justin Trudeau will skip Canada Day festivities on Parliament Hill this year.

March 28, 2017

Instead, the prime minister will be on the road, celebrating Canada’s 151st birthday in three cities in three different regions.

Trudeau is scheduled to visit Leamington, Ont., Regina and Dawson City, Yukon — all on July 1.

He will still put in an appearance on Parliament Hill but it will be via video from Leamington.

Spokesman Cameron Ahmad says Trudeau wants to spend Canada day with “Canadians and their families” in parts of the country he doesn’t often get a chance to visit.

June 1, 2018

But in at least two of the three cities, the tour seems designed to reflect the looming trade war between Canada and the United States.

Trudeau will meet steelworkers in Regina, who’ve been hard-hit by President Donald Trump’s imposition of crippling tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

And in Leamington, he’ll be meeting workers at the French’s ketchup factory.

Ketchup is one of many U. S. goods upon which the Trudeau government intends to slap $16.6 billions worth of retaliatory tariffs, starting on July 1. The Leamington visit appears aimed at reminding Canadians they can still get made-in-Canada ketchup, on which no tariff will apply. (Source: CTV) 

 

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Friday June 22, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 22, 2018

Justin Trudeau says pot will be legal as of Oct. 17, 2018

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced today that Canadians will be able to consume marijuana recreationally without criminal penalties starting on Oct. 17, 2018 — many months later than the government’s initial target date.

August 23, 2013

“One of the things that we heard very clearly from the provinces is that they need a certain amount of time to get their bricks and mortar stores — their online sales — ready. Producers need time to be able to actually prepare for a regimented and successful implementation of the regime … This is something that we want to get right,” Trudeau told reporters at a press conference held today before the House of Commons rises for its summer recess.

“By giving the provinces more time to ensure that they are fully ready for the day of coming into force of this legislation, it will be a smooth success in all the ways that we can hope for.”

While the federal government was responsible for the bill that will ultimately legalize recreational marijuana possession, home growing and sales to adults — by dismantling key aspects of the Criminal Code that ensured prohibition for 95 years — the practical details of implementing legalization have been left largely to the provinces and territories.

December 12, 2017

As is common in the Canadian system of federalism, each province has taken a different approach — and some are more prepared than others. New Brunswick, for example, has already built its first retail storefront, while Nunavut only passed its legal framework on Tuesday.

The government has long said there would be a buffer of eight to 12 weeks between the bill’s passage and full legalization to allow provinces to get their systems up and running to sell recreational marijuana from storefronts. (Source: CBC)

 

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Saturday June 16, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 16, 2018

Homegrown plants and cannabis T-shirts are no mountains to die on

The need for a relatively clean rollout of legalized recreational marijuana — a signature promise of Trudeau, one that can restore his progressive bona fides and one which would most definitely buoy a government that is finding danger at every turn.

September 5, 2002

Predictably, the clean roll out kept hitting speed bumps. At one time, July 1 was going to be pot legalization day. Now, it is U.S. retaliatory tariffs day.

The Senate considered the cannabis bill for seven months. Five committees heard from more than 200 witnesses.

It was a level of diligence that bordered on obstructionism, or at least an attempt to keep punting legalization closer to an election year where inevitable hiccups could be highlighted.

April 13, 2017

Trudeau made just such a charge this week, but Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, citing his party’s minority in the Senate, said the pace of approval in the Upper House was Trudeau’s responsibility.

Regardless, it was Scheer’s Conservatives who led the Senate opposition and were hammering away at it in the Commons question period Thursday.

The government will now send the bill back to the Senate, after rejecting most of the Upper Chamber’s 46 amendments.

December 16, 2016

There, senators should take a bow, congratulate themselves for their great work and resist any impulse to continue a fight over a promised piece of legislation from a democratically elected majority government.

Whether the provinces are claiming four (or fewer) homegrown pot plants constitute a danger to children, abuses their right to set their own regulations or put an undue burden on law enforcement, this can hardly be an issue to shake the country.

January 17, 2012

When government statistics say there were at least 5,869 opioid-related deaths in this country between January 2016 and September, 2017, the idea of cops using resources to count pot plants in Winnipeg condos is absurd.

As we move toward legalization, the government should be pushed on issues more substantive than Senate concerns with indoor plants or T-shirts with cannabis leaves on them.

One of those issues was laid out in the Commons by Marilyn Gladu, who stepped away from Conservative fear-mongering to explain the situation in her border riding of Sarnia-Lambton.

April 21, 2016

Without assurances from U.S. Homeland Security, legalized cannabis is taking us to a thickened American border and possible tragic consequences for uninformed pot smokers.

Cannabis residue or even the odour of cannabis is enough for border agents to send Canadians to secondary screening. Possession of cannabis could get you a lifetime ban from the U.S.

Gladu says U.S. border agents have told her they will not hire more screeners, so some searches will simply be done in the crossing lanes and they are anticipating wait times to increase 300 per cent. (Continued: Toronto Star) 

 

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Saturday February 17, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday February 17, 2018

It’s potholes vs. buses this winter in Hamilton, and potholes are winning

Best winter … E-V-E-R … if you’re a Hamilton pothole, in which case you practically own the city this season, or its curb lanes at the very least.

February 13, 2015

Worst winter ever, if you happen to be a ball joint or some other part of an automobile steering and suspension system; or if you’re a driver relying on such parts to cushion the half-foot drops into craters so big they should have their own bike lanes.

Roads crews in Hamilton are responding with “all hands on deck” as they attempt to repair damage to the road in several priority areas across the city, day and night, filling literally hundreds of potholes with tons of asphalt, said the city’s public works department on Wednesday.

Even the bus drivers won’t drive some stretches of Hamilton road, so pockmarked are they, especially one of the city’s busiest streets, Main West, by the McMaster hospital. Earlier this week they launched a workplace refusal, unwilling to service some stops on Main West, instead posting notices at those stops and detouring around them, says Eric Tuck, president Local 107, Amalgamated Transit Union.

Worst ever for potholes?

“Anecdotal,” says Dan McKinnon. “But, yeah, it’s the worst I’ve seen.” And he’s seen a lot. Dan’s been general manager of Hamilton Public Works for a year and a half but before that spent decades on the roads with the department.

That’s why “we’re out there, day and night,” says Dan, of his public works teams, “on pothole duty.” Every unit, unless an emergency pulls them off. He’s not even sure how many workers he’s got on it because, beside city staff, he’s called in contract workers to help.

“I think it’s a few things,” says Dan. “There’s the freeze-thaw cycle but we get that every year. Twenty years ago we’d get it a couple of times a winter but lately it’s happening five to six times a winter. The frequency of the cycle has increased.

“And my personal theory is that the really bad winter we had in 2014-2015, with extraordinary cold, did damage that is just manifesting now.” (Source: Jeff Mahoney, Hamilton Spectator)