House of Commons Hansard #183 of the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament's site.) The word of the day was opposition.

Topics

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:25 p.m.

Liberal

David Lametti Liberal LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, QC

Mr. Speaker, I will leave the amendment process to our committee, under the guidance of our parliamentary secretary and the government generally.

However, I do note that as a rule there is some flexibility in sentencing through the discretionary power that judges have. I think that we will, at the end of the day, strike the appropriate balance throughout all of our legislation.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

Before we resume debate, for the benefit of all hon. members I will remind members that during the time for questions and comments—which, by the way, have been quite subscribed to this evening, since there is lots of interest in questions and comments—we will try to keep interventions to no more than one minute. We will go by the usual rotation, giving preference to parties that are not the party of the member who has just presented his or her speech, but rather to the others. The same thing will happen, of course, when the speech moves to the other side of the House.

That is the usual rotation. It is not to the exclusion of the party of the member who just spoke, but for the most part it will go to the parties that are not his or her party.

Resuming debate, the hon. member for Langley—Aldergrove.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:30 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC

Mr. Speaker, it is a real honour to speak in the House again. I spoke last night to Bill C-46, and tonight I will speak to Bill C-45.

I will be sharing my time with the member for Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, who introduced Bill C-226, which dealt with impaired driving. The Prime Minister, interestingly, provided a letter to an organization made up of people who had lost loved ones to impaired drivers. They have asked for tough legislation, with mandatory minimums. The Prime Minister signed a letter prior to the election promising to introduce legislation with mandatory minimums, and Bill C-226 was that bill. Sadly, the Prime Minister has broken another promise by not supporting it.

The legalization of cannabis in Canada is being proposed through this bill, Bill C-45. Bill C-46 deals with the new impaired drivers who are expected to be on the road.

I listened intently to the justice minister and members on the other side, made notes, and tried to summarize what they were saying over and over again, which is to trust them and that they want to keep cannabis out of the hands of children, young Canadians, and organized crime. That is their motive.

This bill is being rushed, rammed through, with a promised end date of a normal two-year process. It will not be a two-year process. It will be ready and in place by July 1, Canada Day, of next year. Why the rush? Why are we telling the Senate, the new appointed, independent senators, that they must rush this through?

Why are we ignoring science? The government said it consulted thousands of Canadians. A parliamentary secretary of the government is a former police chief and clearly had a position that legalizing marijuana would not take it out of organized crime. Why the about-face? Why the one-eighty? We also saw the finance minister do an about-face on old age security once becoming a member of the government. It appears that the Prime Minister has an agenda to keep this as his number one promise: to legalize marijuana and to do it by July 1 of next year.

Is there truth behind the claim that it will keep cannabis out of the hands of children and young Canadians? What are the Liberals proposing? They are proposing that every household, including households with children, will be able to have four producing plants, and we know that four plants means 12 plants. There would be four producing plants up to a metre tall, then four plants that are halfway toward that, and plants that have just been planted so they can start growing and get ready for being harvested. We know through the medical marijuana program that four plants means 12 plants. Every home across Canada could legally have them. Is that going to keep cannabis out of the hands of children? A reasonable person would say no, that does not make any sense.

Youth aged 18 and older would be able to legally possess up to 30 grams. What is 30 grams? It is 60 joints. Right now, if Canadians are found with 60 joints, or 30 grams, in their possession, are they criminalized? I am sure many of us have spent time with the police and have seen how they handle illegal drugs. Are people stuck in jail and criminalized? No, the drugs are confiscated. Under Bill C-45, the drugs would not be confiscated anymore. People would be allowed to legally walk around with 60 joints in their pockets or backpacks if they were 18 and older. How about the 12-year-olds up to 18? They could have five grams legally. That is what is being proposed. Is that keeping it out of the hands of our children? Absolutely not.

There is a proverb, a wise saying, “A tree is known by its fruit.” What kind of fruit are we seeing in making it easier for children to have access to this? There are many situations where children do not have access to it. They now will have access to it.

Will it take it out of the hands of organized crime? According to the parliamentary secretary, a former police chief, no, it will not. According to experts, police, and people with law enforcement backgrounds in our caucus and in other caucuses, it will not take it out of their hands. Right now it is illegal. What is illegal now will be made legal. That is how they are dealing with the illegality problem. Organized crime will still want to make its money in some way.

We now can have 12-year-olds to 18-year-olds running around with five grams, 10 joints. It will be totally legal. It will not be confiscated. Eighteen-year-olds and older will have backpacks full of joints.

The government is saying that a majority of Canadians believe it should not be a criminal offence for youth to have cannabis. The option would be to decriminalize it. That has not been a proposal presented by the government. It would legalize it and make it available. People can grow it in every home. Children can have it in their possession legally, and it could not be confiscated. This is not what Canadians expected from the government. This has gone far beyond what is reasonable.

The government has also said that this new legislation is based on science and consultation. However, the consultation they received from law enforcement is that this is flawed. It will restrict their ability to take it out of the hands of children. It will restrict the opportunity to deal with children and say, “You cannot have this. This is bad for you.”

Science has said that it is bad for them. We have heard it time and again. The Canadian Medical Association has said that this is harmful for developing minds. The government is saying, “It may be, but we do not want them to have a criminal record”, which they are not going to get anyway. It will be confiscated.

What is being proposed by the government is not based on science. It is based on politics. It is based on political promises made during an election.

Will this make Canada safer? Will this help protect the health and safety of Canadians? Absolutely not. A reasonable person will say that this makes no sense. Why are they going ahead against science, against law enforcement, and risking the health and safety of Canadians?

I do not have time to get into the issue of road safety, with all these new impaired drivers on our roads and the cost to train police officers and the drug recognition experts, the DREs. There are no devices to determine whether a person is impaired. They could have these little strips that will indicate that there is marijuana in a person's system, but they do not determine whether there is impairment. It is going to be very difficult to get people who are truly impaired off the roads. We do not have the policing resources. What we have is legislation, Bill C-45, being rammed through by July 1 of next year, with no enforcement, no funding, no preparation, and no equipment to protect the health and safety of Canadians. I am shocked that the government is doing this, and I think Canadians are shocked too as they listen to this debate.

This will go on to the justice committee. It will be interesting to see whether the government is open to any amendments, because what it is proposing does not make sense. Canadians do not support this. They support taking time to do this right. I hope the government is flexible enough to listen to common sense, to be reasonable, and to base something on science that will be good for Canada and will truly protect our youth.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:40 p.m.

Scarborough Southwest Ontario

Liberal

Bill Blair LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, I have had the opportunity over the last 18 months to work very closely with experts in the area of public health, public safety, justice, and problematic substance use. I have read literally hundreds of reports, originating from a number of different scientific and health organizations, and we have worked very hard to develop a policy based on the best advice of experts and the expertise that was available to us.

The member opposite has ascribed certain statements to me, which quite frankly are inaccurate, and I would urge him, if he is going to attempt to quote me, to do so accurately.

I would also ask him this. Canada has the highest rates of cannabis use among its young people in the world. The cannabis our young people are using they are acquiring from the criminal element, people who have no concern for their health and safety, the contaminants and other dangerous substances in it, or the health effects or social harms that can be inflicted on our kids as a result of this activity. We also know that organized crime that profits from the sale to our kids is making billions of dollars in this country.

I would simply ask the member opposite this. Is he content with that situation, that our kids are in the hands of criminals and that their health is being put at risk? Would he continue to perpetuate a system that has put our kids at risk, or would he take the steps necessary, based on the advice and the expertise we have made available to ourselves and to this Parliament, to put in place a system of strict regulatory controls so that we know the potency, purity, and provenance of what is being consumed by Canadians; that we have a more effective regulatory regime with respect to its production, distribution, and consumption; that we can keep it away from kids; and that we can protect the health of our citizens and the safety of—

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:40 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

Order. The hon. member for Langley—Aldergrove.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:40 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for his years of service in law enforcement. I respect him and appreciate what he has done throughout his career, and I welcome him to this House.

However, what the member is sharing now I believe is a 180° change. I have spent a lot of time with RCMP on ride-alongs, not drive-alongs. I took the training. I was on the bike squad. They would confiscate these drugs from the kids that were in the park late at night smoking joints. What he is proposing is that we leave those drugs with those kids. They can legally have up to five grams if they are between the ages of 12 and 18. If they are 18 years and older, and they have 60 joints in their backpacks, the police cannot confiscate it anymore. What he is saying to me, and to a lot of Canadians, does not make sense. Why would we allow these youth, with these developing minds, to continue to use this dangerous drug? What is illegal will now be called legal, and that is not the way to deal with organized crime.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

May 30th, 2017 / 9:40 p.m.

Liberal

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith Liberal Beaches—East York, ON

Mr. Speaker, I have a simple question. We have talked a lot in this House about harms. Many substances have harms. Cannabis has potential harms. Alcohol has potential harms. Tobacco has potential harms. If the member wants to criminalize cannabis, what else would he like to criminalize?

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:40 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC

Mr. Speaker, I did not say I wanted to criminalize cannabis. Rather, I would suggest that it become a ticketing offence so that the police can still confiscate the drug. What is the benefit of doing that? The police can already confiscate that drug, but the Liberals are saying, “Leave it with the kids. Leave it in their possession. It is a small amount, and we don't want to criminalize them.” They are not being criminalized now. This is a government of smoke and mirrors. It knows what to say, but it does not do it. It is really a crying shame.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:40 p.m.

NDP

Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC

Mr. Speaker, in my riding of Nanaimo—Ladysmith, Tilray is one of the largest employers. It was licensed as a medical marijuana grower and distributor under the Conservative government. There is some observation, although they followed all the rules, that it is kind of like growing it in a bunker. The overinvestment that was required for medical marijuana producers has been daunting for the industry. Nevertheless, they have followed all the rules. They are doing chemo-induced nausea research and hire botanists and horticulturalists. It is a highly professional operation. I wonder what the member's comments are on how medical marijuana can fit into this next phase of marijuana legislation.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:45 p.m.

Conservative

Mark Warawa Conservative Langley—Aldergrove, BC

Mr. Speaker, I know personally of many cases of people who had nausea or other serious medical problems, and they found the use of marijuana oils to be very helpful. I am not a scientist. I do not know, and it will be very interesting over the coming years of research to find out what the benefits are of the use of marijuana oils.

Bringing into our lungs a foreign body in smoke is not good. Maybe we need to look at what the benefits are. What is being proposed by the government would allow our youth to have access, to have our homes filled with marijuana plants. It is not what Canadians expected. It is not what Canadians want.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:45 p.m.

Conservative

Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Langley—Aldergrove for sharing his time with me. I had the opportunity to prepare a bill on impaired driving with that member. As we can see this evening in the bill the Liberals have brought forward, this problem is only compounded by the Liberal approach, which could be qualified as improvisation and the trivialization of cannabis use.

The Prime Minister gives us lofty explanations to justify the legalization of cannabis, but really, it is just a smoke screen. As my colleague explained, it would be very simple to do some ticketing. This would allow us to protect young people, but the Liberals want to line the pockets of their Liberal cronies at the expense of the health of Canadians and the health of our youth.

Our government granted 30 permits for medical marijuana production. We did so without any interference, but we did not do it for recreational purposes, as this government is about to do.

The problem is that, ultimately, the government wants to line the pockets of their Liberal cronies at the expense of the health and safety of Canadians.

That is right. The only kind of capitalism the government approves of is crony capitalism. For the rest of us, it is bread and circuses.

We have tightened the rules for political fundraising, but that is not enough. There will be an industry that will sprout billionaires as a result of government largesse. That is how the Liberals will become rich. Unfortunately, that is what lies behind this bill.

It has already happened. People like Chuck Rifici, the former treasurer of the Liberal Party, co-founded Canopy Growth, a company that is now worth billions of dollars. Until last summer, he was the Liberal Party's chief financial officer. In fact, Mr. Rifici still worked for the Liberal Party when he co-founded Tweed, the company that has become the largest producer of medical marijuana in the country.

The same Mr. Rifici, a well-known Liberal, was also a member of the board of directors of Aurora Cannabis until May 8, and he is now the CEO of Cannabis Wheaton, which helps cannabis producers become publicly traded companies.

Is the connection clear? The words “cannabis”, “Liberal”, and “legalization” add up to “a lot of money”.

What about Canadians' safety and protecting our youth from a drug that scientists say has devastating effects on development?

That is not all. Adam Miron is the co-founder of Hydropothecary, the only authorized producer of medical marijuana in Quebec. He is the national director of the Liberal Party and the national director of the Young Liberals of Canada.

In addition, former Liberal minister Marin Cauchon is now a member of the board of directors of DelShen Therapeutics, a Toronto cannabis producer that recently obtained its operating licence from the government.

There is more. Herb Dhaliwal, a former Liberal minister, sits on the board of directors of National GreenBioMed, and Larry Campbell, a Liberal senator, is head of Vodis Pharmaceuticals. These two companies are waiting for a Health Canada licence to produce cannabis. Once again, there are Liberal ties.

I agree with my new Bloc colleague, the member for Longueuil, who is not pleased with this shameful Liberal cronyism.

To add insult to injury, in April 2016, many heads of big medical marijuana companies attended a Liberal fundraiser, where they even had privileged access to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, who was charged with the task of implementing this cannabis legalization act. The Liberals then, since it was made public, had no choice but to reimburse the donations. However, they cannot reimburse Canadians for their misplaced trust in this supposedly transparent, open government. Clearly, the only way to hold the government accountable today is to catch it red-handed. It has proven that it cannot be trusted to come forward and walk the talk.

On the campaign trail, the Liberal leader promised millennials the moon. We all know how much he likes a selfie. Meanwhile, he was promising his Liberals friends a goldmine in the form of billions in cannabis sales. The honeymoon phase is over for Canadians, especially young Canadians, who will end up battling more serious drug addiction problems. For some, the only moon they will get is the one they sleep under at night, out on the street, having lost everything because of irresponsible Liberal measures.

Unfortunately, as my colleague from Langley—Aldergrove reminded us, we have seen the harm that comes from legalizing marijuana. Colorado played sorcerer's apprentice with marijuana legalization, and the outcome has been devastating in three ways. First, marijuana consumption among youth went up. We agree with the Liberals that cannabis use by young people is a problem. What we are saying is that the government's proposed measure will increase cannabis consumption, so this is obviously not a good way to solve the problem.

The second consequence, which is tragic, is that there has been an increase in the number of fatal road accidents. My colleague from Langley—Aldergrove and I have been trying to address this problem because impaired driving is the leading criminal cause of death in Canada. We already have our hands full with drinking and driving and now the government wants to add drug-impaired driving to the mix. Unfortunately, in Colorado, the increase in drug use among young people was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the number of motor vehicle accidents attributable to the use of drugs.

The solution is actually quite simple, but it will not help the Liberals' friends who want to make billions of dollars. It is good old ticketing. When police officers apprehend young people or adults who are in possession of a small amount of marijuana, they issue them a fine. It is so simple, but this measure would not make the Liberal members, and especially their friends, richer. That is the problem.

Unfortunately, the Liberals have a hidden agenda. Even MP Erskine-Smith said that he wanted all drugs to be legalized. That does not reassure us with regard to the Liberals' current approach. According to the member—

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Deputy Speaker Conservative Bruce Stanton

Order.

The member violated the Standing Orders by using the name of another member. I am sure he knows that he is supposed to use the riding name.

The hon. member.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:55 p.m.

Conservative

Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC

Mr. Speaker, you are right, and I want to apologize to the member. Indeed, I should have said he was a member from Toronto and mention him by his riding.

The fact remains that he is a Liberal member and he said that he supported the legalization of all drugs. Are we on a slippery slope that begins with the legalization of marijuana? What bill will the Liberals come up with next? Which drug will they want to legalize next? That is the question.

The member said that we should decriminalize the use and possession of all drugs. Understandably, this will do nothing to reassure any parents who are watching us this evening and who want to keep drugs away from young adults. They have something else to offer Canada's youth besides an artificial paradise.

This policy will be harmful for future generations. Allowing people to grow marijuana plants at home makes it easy for kids to access a mind-altering substance that could have serious, harmful effects on their development. There are much better things we could be doing besides giving access to drugs.

In closing, let me just say that this experiment has failed in Colorado. Why go down this dangerous path that will have a devastating effect and serious repercussions on young people, whom we want to protect, when ticketing is an inexpensive solution that could solve the problem?

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:55 p.m.

Liberal

David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC

Mr. Speaker, when I visit my riding, I ask young people whether it is easier to get marijuana or beer. They always say marijuana.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:55 p.m.

An hon. member

That is not true.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:55 p.m.

Liberal

David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC

In my riding, it is true, Mr. Speaker.

Therefore, I want to ask my colleague whether he believes that the current system works well. If not, why did he do nothing about it in his 10 years in cabinet?

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:55 p.m.

Conservative

Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC

Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question.

What I would say to him is that the Liberal government's proposed measure is worse than the status quo because, in Colorado, there has been a rise in drug consumption among youth, fatal accidents, and an increase in the activities of organized crime. The solution is ticketing, which will help us reduce drug use among young people.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:55 p.m.

Liberal

Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON

Mr. Speaker, we have seen in the past that prohibition has not worked. It did not work with alcohol and it is not working with marijuana today. Today our youth are the highest consumers of cannabis in the world. All we are doing is making criminals wealthy. We do not know the composition of the cannabis that our youth are smoking today. The balance between CBD and THC is something that we really need to understand.

Should we be allowing criminals to continue to profit from this? Should we be allowing criminals to continue to manipulate the genetics and biochemistry of this drug just as we used to under prohibition with those who produced alcohol? Should we be using the revenue from this to educate, enforce, and rehabilitate youth, rather than once again compensating criminals?

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

9:55 p.m.

Conservative

Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC

Mr. Speaker, the problem with the proposed approach by the government is that it will actually increase organized crime activities, as has been the case in the states of Washington and Colorado. However, more than that, not only would it increase organized crime but, when Colorado legalized marijuana, it became the number one state in the United States for teen marijuana use, with teen rates jumping over 12%. In both Washington state and Colorado, the illegal black market for drugs has exploded with organized crime.

The bill tabled by the government is a way to increase organized crime in this country. Is that what the member wants? I do not think so. I do not think this is what his constituents want. That is why he should not support the bill as it is tabled.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

10 p.m.

NDP

Karine Trudel NDP Jonquière, QC

Mr. Speaker, Bill C-45 leads me to speak about Havre du Fjord, a home I recently visited in my riding of Jonquière. This is a home for youth struggling with addiction and alcohol problems. The employees of this house have seen a growing number of people use their treatments. These people also participate in rehabilitation programs. The home tries to provide a quality of life for adolescents and young adults so they can live a sober life, learn to love themselves, gain self-confidence, and then find a job and live a so-called normal life. Unfortunately, dependency is a life-long problem and one must learn to live with it.

I would like to know what my colleague thinks about that. Should the government not invest more in prevention, awareness, and treatment centres?

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

10 p.m.

Conservative

Steven Blaney Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Jonquière for her question, which has to do with prevention and raising awareness.

She is absolutely right. It is important to make young people aware of the devastating effects of drugs, particularly cannabis. Unfortunately, as I said at the beginning of my speech this evening, the government's approach is improvised and trivializes the use of marijuana. Even though the bill has not yet been passed, the government's lazy approach trivializes young people's use of drugs, which is already having devastating effects. We want to achieve exactly the opposite effect. That is why this bill, in its current form, is already having harmful effects on our young people.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

10 p.m.

Louis-Hébert Québec

Liberal

Joël Lightbound LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by saying that I will be sharing my time with the member for Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley.

First of all, I want to say how proud I am to be part of a government that has the courage, the audacity, and most importantly the insight to see things as they really are. What is the reality in Canada right now? The reality is that the prohibition of cannabis is not working. According to Statistics Canada, even though cannabis is illegal, 12% of Canadians have used it over the past year. A more recent CBC survey showed that the real number was 17%.

This means that, unfortunately, 17% of Canadians are unwillingly contributing to a criminal-run market that generates staggering profits for organized crime year after year. We are talking an estimated $7 billion per year. The current system also forces five million otherwise law-abiding, hard-working, tax-paying Canadians to do business with criminals, thereby increasing their risk of exposure to violence and other drugs. Even possession of a small amount of cannabis can saddle them with a criminal record for life.

We are jeopardizing Canadians' health by forcing them to do business with criminals who do not care about the quality and safety of what they sell. Dealers do not care about what they sell, nor do they care about whom they sell it to. Who buys marijuana from criminals? Do dealers make sure their customers are not minors? The way things stand in Canada, it is easier for minors to get marijuana than it is for them to get alcohol or cigarettes, and the prevalence of marijuana consumption is higher among underage and young Canadians than anywhere else in the OECD.

This is a problem because nobody here wants cannabis to be a part of everyday life. We know how it can affect the developing brain, and we need to take a different approach precisely because it is not a harmless substance. The current approach is truly disastrous for our young people.

Everything I just described was the result of prohibition. To those who defend the status quo, who wrap themselves in virtue on the other side of the House by sticking their heads so far down in the sand that they do not see reality for what it is, to them I ask what they would propose.

What is it that they are proposing? Is it more of the same, the same failure for our kids, the same failure for our communities, the same failure for Canadians?

If we keep doing what we have always done, we will keep getting what we have always gotten. The current approach is a failure. It needs to be changed. It needs to be changed responsibly. This is what we told Canadians, and this is precisely what we are doing.

The proposed cannabis act that we are debating tonight would create a legal framework to allow for the establishment of a regulated industry that provides controlled access to cannabis for adult Canadians. It would establish a system that over time would displace the illicit market for cannabis and keep profits out of the hands of organized crime. It would better protect youth by establishing a strict set of controls designed to restrict their access to cannabis.

The new system will also help protect the health of adult Canadians by ensuring that the cannabis available on the legal market is produced in a controlled environment, correctly labelled, and free of any additives or dangerous chemical products.

This framework will also ease the burden on our judicial system, since we will no longer be cracking down on Canadians for the possession of a small quantity of cannabis. Those are the objectives of Bill C-45, which is before the House this evening.

I would like to highlight some of specific provisions in the proposed cannabis act, and describe how these parts of the bill would achieve these objectives. Let me begin with the parameters for legal access to cannabis so that the current illegal market is diminished and ultimately displaced.

Our government has made it clear that it is taking a public health approach to cannabis legalization and regulation, and that the legal production, distribution, and sale of the substance will be subject to strict regulatory controls and standards. This means that any business seeking to serve as a commercial producer or seller of cannabis will need to first have a licence or other type of government authorization.

Under this approach, governments, whether they be provincial or federal, would have the ability to establish licensing requirements for businesses in order to keep criminals out and to allow the participation of legitimate businesses. These requirements are also designed to make sure that legally produced cannabis is not diverted to the illegal market, and that, conversely, illegally produced cannabis does not end up on store shelves.

The government and I, mostly definitely, are confident that Bill C-45 sets the conditions for a legal and appropriately regulated cannabis industry to emerge across Canada that will displace the current illegal market. Our government is also confident that the cannabis available through the regulated supply chain will be safer than the cannabis that is available on the streets today.

This brings me to the objective I outlined earlier, namely, to better protect the health of Canadian adults who decide to use cannabis. Bill C-45 proposes to implement a comprehensive regulatory framework that would establish national product quality and safety standards, as well as packaging and labelling standards. This framework will better protect the health of Canadians. This evening I heard a member across the way talking about ticketing, but that would never happen and organized crime would still be in the equation. What we want to do is remove organized crime from the equation.

Bill C-45 also includes other provisions to better protect young people, including a specific prohibition, as defined under criminal law, from selling or providing cannabis in any form to anyone under the age of 18. Anyone found guilty of selling cannabis to a youth could face up to 14 years in prison.

To further support our government's objective of protecting youth, Bill C-45 would make it illegal to sell products that appeal specifically to youth. Bill C-45 would also enact a comprehensive suite of advertising restrictions designed to protect youth from promotions and other messaging that could encourage them to use cannabis. These provisions, modelled on similar rules that have been used successfully to protect youth from inducements to use tobacco, would prohibit any advertising that could make cannabis appealing to a young person.

Taken together, these provisions in Bill C-45 would establish a system that would provide adult Canadians with access to legal cannabis through a controlled market, would decrease the demand for cannabis from the illicit market, and diminish the role played by organized crime. At the same time, the bill would introduce rigorous controls to ensure that cannabis is not sold or marketed to youth, and that legal cannabis is produced and sold in accordance with appropriate regulatory standards.

As I mentioned, Bill C-45 also sets out to minimize the repercussions and social harms associated with criminalizing the possession of small quantities of cannabis. For anyone who ends up with a criminal record for possession of a small quantity of cannabis, those repercussions may include travel restrictions or diminished job prospects. Criminalization also affects the legal system because it overburdens our police resources and our criminal justice system.

Bill C-45 fixes those problems by scrapping the strict prohibition on possession of a small quantity of cannabis and authorizing adult Canadians to possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis in public.

For youth, Bill C-45 would also seek to avoid the negative lifelong consequences of possessing very small amounts of cannabis. Bill C-45 proposes that youth under 18 years of age would not be subject to criminal prosecution for possession of up to five grams of cannabis. Our government is also committed to working with the provinces and territories to encourage the creation of non-criminal provincial offences that would prohibit youth from possessing any amount of cannabis. This approach would provide police with the authority to seize any amount of cannabis found in the possession of a young person while not rendering them liable to criminal sanctions, which I think any sensible person would agree to.

Alongside this sea change, another key goal for our government is to ensure that Canadians who need medical marijuana can continue to obtain it.

To conclude, I will say that I am sure about one thing. The current policy, prohibition, is a failure. We need to change how we deal with cannabis, and our very strict regulatory framework for cannabis legalization will have some very positive consequences.

I think it is an idea whose time has come.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

10:10 p.m.

Conservative

Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the speech by the parliamentary secretary, except that he continues to ignore the actual facts out there. The Liberals say they want to bring this forward to keep the proceeds out of the hands of criminals and also to keep it out of the hands of kids.

We have seen with the facts in Colorado that as far as the criminal element is concerned, it does not decrease the criminal element. As far as safety is concerned, I do not want to speak from my own opinion, but the Canadian Medical Association Journal just yesterday came out with an editorial lambasting the government for the irresponsible approach that it wants to bring forward for legalizing marijuana. It talked about these four plants available in everyone's home. We can have up to four plants. It is just common sense that it will be diverted, or the possibility of diversion will be increased incredibly.

We have seen, in Colorado, increased admittance to hospitals because kids actually get their hands on edibles. The Liberals say they will not be allowing the sale of edibles, but certainly people will be making more and more of these.

Why should Canadians believe anything the Liberals say when we have respected professionals, such as those in the Canadian Medical Association, who say that this approach is silly and that this approach, if the Liberals really cared about the public safety of Canadians, should not pass? Why should we believe them over the medical professionals?

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

10:10 p.m.

Liberal

Joël Lightbound Liberal Louis-Hébert, QC

Mr. Speaker, I would answer by simply asking this. How can we believe the Conservatives when the approach that they defended for 10 years, and they still do to this day, has failed so miserably?

When up to 20% of young Canadians under the age of 18 report that they have smoked, that is among the highest rates in the world. For youth 18 to 25, it is 30%. That is the current approach. When criminal organizations generate profits estimated to be $7 billion a year through the sale of cannabis, that is the current approach. That is the approach they are defending.

The Conservatives can put their heads as deep as they want in the sand and pretend that the current approach is working, but it is not. I am not the only one saying this. The Barreau du Québec, les directeurs de santé publique du Québec, The New York Times, The Economist, which is not exactly a leftist magazine, have come out with the quite clear position that prohibition is not working. We need a new approach, and I am very proud to be a part of the government that has the lucidity and the responsibility to move forward with a new approach to cannabis because the current one has failed.

Cannabis ActGovernment Orders

10:10 p.m.

Scarborough Southwest Ontario

Liberal

Bill Blair LiberalParliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Mr. Speaker, the previous speaker, the member for Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis made reference to a number of organizations who are licensed producers in this country, and he made a suggestion. It was more than a suggestion. He actually made a bold declaration that somehow there has been some kind of political preference given to these particular licensees, and he named four of them: Tweed, Canopy, Aurora, and Hydropothecary.

I just wanted to ask the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Health, who knows something about the licence applications, if he thinks it would surprise the member to learn that all four of the organizations mentioned by the previous member in his speech received their licences from the Conservative government, and not from us. Would the member not be shocked, given the extraordinary declaration made by the member opposite, that somehow there is some area of malfeasance on our part for an action he took?