Last week, the Liberal government introduced the 2018 budget. As is customary in Canadian democracy, it is the role of the Liberal government to promote what it views as the merits of their budget. As the Official Opposition, it is our job to illustrate the concerns we have with the budget. On that note, I have a few. It has become clear over this mandate, that the prime minister excels in making promises, but often falls short on the delivery of said promises. For example, we were promised electoral reform, a national housing strategy, infrastructure investment, new fighter jets for our militaryÂ…the list goes on. This budget is no exception. Mr. Trudeau distinctly promised Canadians that after a series of small deficits, his government would return to a balanced budget in 2019. This budget demonstrates that the Liberals have no intention whatsoever of returning to balance in 2019. [continues 454 words]
Although the topic of the finance minister and his assets that were not held in a blind trust, leaving a potential conflict of interest investigation looming remains an active one in Ottawa, it will not be the topic of this week's report. Instead, I would like to solicit your thoughts on the pending legalization of marijuana. For those of you unfamiliar, the Liberals in the last election openly campaigned on the legalization of marijuana. I raise that point as I believe the Liberals received a democratic mandate from voters to move ahead with marijuana legalization. [continues 392 words]
As much as the House of Commons is often viewed as an adversarial environment there are also those times, albeit rare, when there is unanimous support for the passage of a Bill. In the last Parliament I was fortunate to have unanimous support for the passage of my Bill to remove a prohibition era Federal restriction preventing the personal movement of wine across provincial borders. Later the government would expand on this bill to also include beer and spirits. Recently in the House of Commons another private member's bill has received unanimous support and has also passed through the Senate and recently received Royal Assent. [continues 355 words]
Last week, the Liberal government introduced the much anticipated marijuana legalization bill, technically known as Bill C-45, The Cannabis Act. First let me state that the Liberals clearly campaigned on legalizing marijuana and I have heard from several citizens who indicated this was one of the primary reasons they voted Liberal in the last election. I mention this point as I believe the Liberal government does have a democratic mandate to move forward with this legislation. From a quick overview, this bill takes a similar approach I used with my wine bill that removes federal barriers, but still allows provinces to enact and adopt their own rules and regulations with respect to marijuana legislation. [continues 555 words]
In early June the Supreme Court of Canada rendered a judgement with respect to how medical marijuana may be consumed. A brief summary of this ruling is that the Supreme Court decided that medical marijuana, including extracts and derivatives, could be consumed in a variety of different methods beyond the previously defined means of being dried. In essence this ruling opens the door for oral ingestion that does not require "smoking" and allows marijuana laced baked goods, pills and other methods. Also included are cannabis oils along with both dried and now fresh marijuana buds and leaves. [continues 527 words]
In my relatively brief time as a Member of Parliament I have observed that when there is a lack of information that void is filled very quickly with misinformation. Case in point is Bill C-10, otherwise known as the omnibus crime bill. Some would have you believe that the intent of this bill is solely about incarcerating anyone and everyone convicted of committing a crime, regardless of the severity, and essentially throwing away the key. I believe it is important to talk about the types of serious crime that are actually being targeted in Bill C-10. [continues 530 words]
In my relatively brief time as a Member of Parliament I have observed that when there is a lack of information that void is filled very quickly with misinformation. Case in point is Bill C-10, otherwise known as the omnibus crime bill. Some would have you believe that the intent of this bill is solely about incarcerating anyone and everyone convicted of committing a crime, regardless of the severity, and essentially throwing away the key. I believe it is important to talk about the types of serious crime that are actually being targeted in Bill C-10. [continues 535 words]
