Mr. Speaker, I would first like to say what a great honour it is to see you in the chair at 10:15 this Thursday evening. Yours is a very prestigious position, Mr. Speaker. Your predecessor is over here now, and in two and a half years, he will be on the other side. The future is yours, Mr. Speaker. We need a good dose of humour tonight because what is going on here is no laughing matter, and it is the government's fault.
The government is delivering on a regrettable, dangerous, and perhaps even deadly election promise. It is unacceptable for the Liberal government to make ours one of the few countries in the world to legalize marijuana consumption. Before I dig into the issues, I just want to go over the broad strokes.
Why is it dangerous to legalize cannabis? Because it is a gateway drug. Cannabis can directly kill brain cells. It cannot be compared to cigarettes. Earlier, we heard the argument that cigarettes should be banned because they cause cancer. However, cigarettes have been legal for centuries. That is the problem. If tobacco were invented today, it would be banned immediately. However, tobacco has existed for hundreds of years and our efforts to eradicate it are working.
People of my parents' generation were inveterate smokers, although my parents did not smoke. People of my generation did not smoke much. As for my children, they have never smoked. Thus, we have managed to get rid of the cigarette and now the government wants to legalize marijuana use.
Do I have to remind members that marijuana kills brain cells and they do not regenerate? Woe to those who make comparisons with alcohol. Alcohol does affect the brain, but it does not kill brain cells, although it can result in disasters and unfortunate incidents. Nevertheless, the Liberals want to legalize marijuana and that is unacceptable.
Also, the Liberals want to make it legal to use marijuana beginning at age 18. They keep saying that everything must be science-based. They are also saying that our government ignored science, which is completely false. Can the Liberals name a single specialist, doctor, or scientific authority who has said that using marijuana poses no problem for an 18-year-old? On the contrary, every scientific study in the world says that using the drug before the age of 25 is dangerous, because the brain is still developing at that time. This is also what the College of Family Physicians of Canada said. It has been proven that marijuana attacks brain cells directly, and yet the Liberals want to legalize it. It makes no sense. Setting the legal age at 18 is a huge mistake.
Another dumb thing about this bill is that it lets people grow marijuana at home. During the election campaign, the Liberals said they would control marijuana production, that it would happen in specific places, and that everything would be just fine. They said they would be able to rein in what was being done illegally. Are they going to check all 20 million houses in this country? Give me a break.
Then they say the plants cannot be taller than three feet. Am I supposed to believe that the RCMP is going to get out its tape measure and let people keep growing plants that are two feet, three and three-quarter inches tall? That is ridiculous.
The Liberal government is going to put our children in ridiculous, preposterous, unacceptable situations. That is the problem. The Liberals are constantly spouting their lofty ideals. They say this is a better way to restrict children's access to marijuana. Yeah, right. Kids are going to be able to go into all these houses where pot is growing. That is not protection; that is an open bar. My kids are grown up, but I remember back when they were 10 and they went to play with their friends. Now parents are going to have to find out if their kids' friends' parents are growing marijuana at home.
I can tell you that my son or daughter definitely would not be going there. Imagine the family arguments. Well done. Another stupid move from this government.
This is going to cause a thousand problems. For whom? Not for the federal government. It will be up to the provinces and municipalities to clean up this mess. What is legalizing marijuana really going to achieve? It is simply going to cause problems in the areas of public safety, health, and education, which are all provincial jurisdictions. What is going to happen with all of that? The government will say that it is doing this for the well-being of Canadians and our kids, and the provinces will have to figure out the costs. Well done. This is typical of the Liberal government.
This is not to mention how our cities and towns will be affected; it will be significant. Proper legislation is needed regarding growing this stuff at home. Will apartment owners be allowed to prohibit growing it? No, because the federal legislation allows it. Municipalities will be left to deal with this, so in one city it might be allowed, while in another city it might not. Well done.
The Liberals like to manufacture problems. They want to fix them, but they also like to create them. That is why this bill is unacceptable.
It does not stop there. What is one of the stupidest things about this bill? When will it be implemented? When will Canada become one of the only countries in the world to legalize marijuana? It will be on Canada's birthday, July 1, 2018. That is the legacy the Liberals are going to leave. This year, we are going to celebrate Canada's 150th birthday—hooray for Canada—and a year later it will be hooray for marijuana. That does not make any sense. That is how the Liberal government is managing our country.
The Liberals are saying that this is being done elsewhere and that it is working so they are going to continue to move forward with their plan, but that is not true. The experiences of Colorado and Washington state have shown that this is a bad idea, that it increases the use and production of cannabis, and that it leads to an increase in organized crime, motor vehicle accidents, and other problems. What is more, cannabis addiction has a negative impact on health. That is unacceptable.
Like any good MP, I like to consult my constituents. Over the past week, I sent a parliamentary mail-out to ask people in the riding of Louis—Saint-Laurent to tell me what they think of the situation. I received nearly 500 responses, and 93% of people said that the Liberal government should not pass this legislation and should not legalize marijuana.
I will read some of their comments. Ms. Tremblay said that legalizing marijuana would be one less obstacle on the path to harder drugs. Other people said that growing marijuana at home would make it easier for younger children to have access to it. One man mentioned that he had lost five friends to suicide because of this crap. Another said that it puts young people at a higher risk of developing mental illnesses, and another said he had four grandchildren and that he found this shameful. A father of a three-year-old girl with another child on the way said that he was worried and found the situation extremely troubling.
I received a lot of comments. Here are some more. People also said that they disagreed with this measure because it would encourage young people to start using cannabis, and that Colorado's experience has shown that this is not a good idea. One woman did not want this for her granddaughter, her children, or her five great-grandchildren. Someone wanted to know who would benefit from the illegal sales, while someone else said that the only reason this was happening was so that the Prime Minister could win the votes of young people. Another person said that the decision goes against the efforts that the provinces are making, while another said that cannabis is four times stronger now than it was in the 1970s and that it is destroying people's minds.
I want to end with this last comment. “It is inhumane to toy with the health of our children.” That one was signed by a woman who lives on Ormière Boulevard, Ms. Paule Deltell, my mother.
What I want to say is that it is a very bad bill.