Thank you to Minister Wilson-Raybould. Thanks for coming back with your officials.
I want to ask about two or three things in the time available.
First, on marijuana possession, and building on Mr. Nicholson's question, we heard testimony on March 10 from the Public Prosecution Service that the government plans to spend $3 million to $4 million each year prosecuting charges of simple possession of marijuana. That's 2% to 3% of what the PPSC plans to spend overall for its program on the prosecution of drugs, the Criminal Code, and terrorism in the coming year.
At the same time, Justice Selkirk of the Ontario Court of Justice, in a case called Racine, refused to accept a guilty plea for the possession of marijuana. He said:
I recall distinctly the Prime Minister in the House of Commons saying it's going to be legalized. I'm not going to be the last judge in this country to convict somebody of simple possession of marijuana.... You can't have the Prime Minister announcing it's going to be legalized and then stand up and prosecute it. It just can't happen. It's a ludicrous situation, ludicrous.
Given these costs, the concerns expressed by our judges, and your government's intention to legalize marijuana, have you as a minister considered calling a halt to further prosecutions for simple possession of marijuana?