Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for her speech and will note that I am welcoming one of her constituents, my father-in-law, out for lunch shortly.
I sympathize with some of the comments made by members, particularly with respect to medicinal cannabis patients and the extra burden on our criminal justice system. However, I would note that when the member cautions against proceeding quickly with cannabis legalization, Colorado and other jurisdictions certainly moved faster than we are moving. I think we are actually taking our time and proceeding with some caution.
I wonder what the member might say to the fact that over 43% of Canadians have self-reported using cannabis in their lifetime. Now, this is self-reported, so the real number is obviously higher. People are therefore already on the roads impaired by cannabis and we do not have any regulations in place to deal with that. Perhaps these are not the appropriate regulations, but does she not view that as a concern? Is it not a better approach to have some regulation, perhaps not perfect, rather than a complete and total absence of regulation?