Jody Wilson-Raybould

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I would submit that we are doing it properly. We have been very open and clear about our objectives around legalization of cannabis, strict regulation, and restricting access to it in order to keep it out of the hands of kids and the proceeds out of the hands of criminals. In doing so and in moving forward in a responsible way, we struck a substantive task force of eight eminently qualified people that travelled the country, went to jurisdictions not only within Canada but throughout the world to get feedback and look at best practices, in order to provide us with 80 substantive recommendations, many of which formed the basis of Bill C-45. I very much recommend that all members in this House read that task force report, if they have not already, and continue to engage in the discussions at committee, where we will hear from more experts and more Canadians.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the support of my hon. colleague across the way for this piece of legislation.

There is a lot of work we need to do and continue to do in ensuring that we work with the provinces and territories around a complex regime from seed to sale in fixing a price to ensure that we can achieve our objectives of eliminating the organized crime or the illegal market and setting the price that is appropriate to ensure that we go about doing that. We need to continue to work with the provinces and territories to put in place the regime around sale and distribution to ensure that we achieve the objectives of restricting it and keeping it out of the hands of kids. These are legitimate questions that are going to have to be discussed on an ongoing basis, in terms of how they will be reflected and what price would be set in the various jurisdictions we are dealing with.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I certainly thank my hon. colleague across the way for the support for this important piece of legislation. I recognize that there have been advocates for this legislation for a great deal of time.

As with all bills that I have and that our government has, we will work very diligently to ensure we speak to as many if not all people in the other place to ensure that we can dispel myths and explain the various provisions of this very long bill to provide technical updates and background to them to ensure that the bill can proceed through the other place as quickly as possible and that we have a legalized regime and move forward with strict regulation.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, this not a laughing matter. I would ask my friend opposite to read the report of the task force on cannabis. The reality is that, right now, Canada has the highest rates of young people using cannabis, and the reason we want to move forward with the legalization of cannabis is to strictly regulate and restrict access to cannabis. This is entirely important. I would expect that all hon. members would look at the task force report and at the substantive recommendations to ensure that we actually put in place a regulatory framework to achieve those objectives. The status quo simply is not working.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, children are getting it right now in massive quantities. Canada has the highest number of young people smoking cannabis.

We are seeking to legalize cannabis, strictly regulate it, and restrict access. There is nothing in the legislation that provides legal access to young people.

The purpose of the legislation is to ensure we keep it out of the hands of kids and the proceeds out of the hands of criminals. We took many recommendations from the task forces with respect to the cannabis act. One of those recommendations was to have the four plants at home for possible home growth.

It is incumbent upon the adults in those houses to do what they do with alcohol or prescription drugs, to put limits around that to ensure that the children who may live in the house do not have access to it, much like they do with alcohol and prescription drugs.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, to answer the question around why we do not simply decriminalize, to simply decriminalize right now, absent a comprehensive regulatory framework, will not achieve the objectives we are seeking to achieve with the legalization of cannabis. We need to have a regulatory framework in place. This is how and why we are moving forward as quickly as we can, because the status quo simply is not working.

We need to ensure we work in a collaborate way with the provinces and territories, and we are, so when cannabis is legalized, there is a strict regulatory framework and restricted access in order to keep it out of the hands of kids and the proceeds out of the hands of criminals.

I hope all members in the House will continue to have these debates at committee as the bill continues to proceed through the parliamentary process.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my hon. colleague across the way talking about how transformative this is. This is necessary to ensure we move beyond the status quo, which simply is not working. It is easier for a young person to get a joint than it is to get a bottle of beer or access to cigarettes. This is why we are moving forward in a comprehensive, concerted manner.

We have spoken with the CMA. I have spoken with the Attorneys General across the country. We have spoken with chiefs of police. We are ensuring that we continue to have these conversations, not only based on the task force report and its recommendations, but also, and underscore, by taking a substantive approach to impaired driving. There is news. We do have tools that will detect, on the roadside, drug impaired driving, We certainly are moving forward on alcohol-impaired driving. It was news today. I hope the member opposite reviews that news.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to answer this question with respect to our objectives around the legalization of cannabis, its strict regulation, and restricting its access to achieve the objectives of keeping it out of the hands of children and the proceeds out of the hands of criminals. In proceeding this way, we are recognizing that the status quo is simply not working.

We are working very diligently. We are working with our counterparts in the provinces and territories with respect to this federal legislation to ensure we are mindful and leave space for the provinces to regulate and restrict access in accordance with the needs of their jurisdiction and to provide a minimum framework for how one can access cannabis legally in our country.

This is a complex issue. That is why we have been working very diligently over the last 18 months to ensure we can meet the deadline of July 2018.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, we have done substantive consultation in this regard. Substantial consultation was conducted through a task force that received over 30,000 responses. This task force of very learned members in the area of public safety, health, and justice submitted a report with 80 recommendations.

The federal government is not washing its hands of cannabis. We are ensuring that we work collaboratively with the provinces and territories, at the ministerial level and ongoing at the official level with all provinces and territories, to ensure we are ready to have a complex regime in place, hopefully, in July of 2018. However, there will always be a federal backstop if a province does not enter the space of strictly regulating in its jurisdiction.

[Cannabis Act, June 6th, 2017]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be working with my colleagues the Minister of Public Safety and the Minister of Health to address the exact issues that are being raised in creating a public awareness campaign about the impacts of cannabis smoking on the developing brain. We are not hiding this. We continue to pursue, acknowledge, and invest in a public education campaign.

With respect to the four plants referenced by the previous hon. member in her question, this comes from a recommendation of the task force. Four plants are allowed in one household and those plants can be no more than one metre high. It is incumbent upon the adults in those houses to ensure they restrict access to those plants if they choose to home grow cannabis themselves.