All three major provincial political party leaders agree that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau needs to clear the haze swirling around marijuana legalization.
In a rare display of unanimity at Queen’s Park, Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath are each urging Ottawa to provide some direction.
“We need to get some clarity from the federal government on timeline and process,” said Wynne, who has officials from 12 provincial departments working on a marijuana strategy dealing with health, justice and social implications.
“All of the orders of government need to work together, because there are impacts,” the premier said Wednesday.
“Whatever the decisions are, there will be impacts on every level of government and on our jurisdiction, so I think that there needs to be that conversation that includes everybody as we could move forward.”
Brown concurred that “it would be better if there was clarity.”
“There’s an extended legal grey zone and there’s a mandate that Prime Minister Trudeau has from the last federal election; everyone anticipates (legalization) is coming . . . .” the Conservative leader said.
Right now, scofflaws are able to operate illegal “dispensaries,” which is making things difficult for law enforcement officials.
“Police officers are telling me they’re worried about drug-impaired driving and they need assistance to deal with it,” said Brown.
“So I think there’s a lot of complications with this new initiative and the faster we can address those complications the better Ontario will be,” he said.
Horwath echoed that concern.
“Unfortunately, at this point, there’s more questions than answers about what’s going to happen,” said the NDP leader.
“We don’t know enough yet. There’s just too much uncertainty at this point to even know where the government is going to go,” she said.
Their comments came as the president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce publicly asked Wynne to allow recreational marijuana to be sold by private retailers licensed by the government.
Allan O’Dette said “municipalities should have a voice in the approval process” for grow-ops and retail sites.
“Licenses should not be issued for communities which have voted against production or distribution facilities,” said O’Dette, whose organization boasts 60,000 members across the province.
On Monday, Anne McLellan, leader of Trudeau’s legalization task force, said Ottawa should “go slow” on reforming cannabis laws.
McLellan told the Star that there is much Canada can learn from U.S. states that have legalized weed.
“One of the things we have learned, or we have heard . . . , from states like Washington and Colorado . . . is take your time,” said the former deputy prime minister.
“Because it’s much harder to pull something back than it is to, perhaps, be a little bit more restrictive out of the box, and, then, as you learn, you maybe loosen things up a bit.”
Critics note Ottawa’s languid approach has contributed to a Wild West atmosphere with cash-only storefront weed shops popping up all over Toronto.
Despite police crackdowns, the so-called dispensaries remain open.
While medicinal marijuana is legal in Canada, patients must have a prescription from a medical doctor.
It must be shipped by registered mail from one of the 35 Health Canada-licensed producers.
As of last month, patients with a medical prescription can also grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal consumption.
In a rare display of unanimity at Queen’s Park, Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne, Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath are each urging Ottawa to provide some direction.
“We need to get some clarity from the federal government on timeline and process,” said Wynne, who has officials from 12 provincial departments working on a marijuana strategy dealing with health, justice and social implications.
“All of the orders of government need to work together, because there are impacts,” the premier said Wednesday.
“Whatever the decisions are, there will be impacts on every level of government and on our jurisdiction, so I think that there needs to be that conversation that includes everybody as we could move forward.”
Brown concurred that “it would be better if there was clarity.”
“There’s an extended legal grey zone and there’s a mandate that Prime Minister Trudeau has from the last federal election; everyone anticipates (legalization) is coming . . . .” the Conservative leader said.
Right now, scofflaws are able to operate illegal “dispensaries,” which is making things difficult for law enforcement officials.
“Police officers are telling me they’re worried about drug-impaired driving and they need assistance to deal with it,” said Brown.
“So I think there’s a lot of complications with this new initiative and the faster we can address those complications the better Ontario will be,” he said.
Horwath echoed that concern.
“Unfortunately, at this point, there’s more questions than answers about what’s going to happen,” said the NDP leader.
“We don’t know enough yet. There’s just too much uncertainty at this point to even know where the government is going to go,” she said.
Their comments came as the president of the Ontario Chamber of Commerce publicly asked Wynne to allow recreational marijuana to be sold by private retailers licensed by the government.
Allan O’Dette said “municipalities should have a voice in the approval process” for grow-ops and retail sites.
“Licenses should not be issued for communities which have voted against production or distribution facilities,” said O’Dette, whose organization boasts 60,000 members across the province.
On Monday, Anne McLellan, leader of Trudeau’s legalization task force, said Ottawa should “go slow” on reforming cannabis laws.
McLellan told the Star that there is much Canada can learn from U.S. states that have legalized weed.
“One of the things we have learned, or we have heard . . . , from states like Washington and Colorado . . . is take your time,” said the former deputy prime minister.
“Because it’s much harder to pull something back than it is to, perhaps, be a little bit more restrictive out of the box, and, then, as you learn, you maybe loosen things up a bit.”
Critics note Ottawa’s languid approach has contributed to a Wild West atmosphere with cash-only storefront weed shops popping up all over Toronto.
Despite police crackdowns, the so-called dispensaries remain open.
While medicinal marijuana is legal in Canada, patients must have a prescription from a medical doctor.
It must be shipped by registered mail from one of the 35 Health Canada-licensed producers.
As of last month, patients with a medical prescription can also grow small amounts of marijuana for their personal consumption.
