Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to bring some clarity on this issue.
I would simply remind the member opposite that on April 20 of this year, at the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on Drugs, the Minister of Health announced the government's intention to bring forward new regulations for the control and restriction of the production, distribution, and consumption of cannabis products in Canada in the spring of 2017.
Therefore, it is our intention and commitment to fulfill the Minister of Health's promise to bring those regulations to the House. We are hopeful and even confident in the commitment of all members of the House to thoroughly examine this issue, because it is an important piece of public legislation. We want to give the House that opportunity.
The task force, as I have said, will be set up very shortly. It has an enormously important bit of work to do. We have established some timelines so that it can report in a timely way to inform the creation of those regulations to be brought before the House in the spring of 2017.