Good morning,
Cannabis legalization has passed its final vote in Parliament. The policy, which will create a legal multibillion-dollar industry, removes many of the legal penalties for recreational use of marijuana, with repercussions for business, and our health and the criminal justice systems.
The bill needs to receive royal assent – possibly as soon as today – before the cannabis is officially legalized. Then cabinet will decide the date when the drug can officially be sold legally. The federal government is giving provinces and industry eight to 12 weeks to get their systems in place. Here is our guide to what the different jurisdictions are planning.
For subscribers, we spoke to staffers and politicians around Justin Trudeau to understand how the Prime Minister came up with the plan to legalize the plant. They tell us it all began with a family RV trip in B.C. and an unplanned political event in Kelowna.
This is the daily Politics Briefing newsletter, written by Chris Hannay in Ottawa and James Keller in Vancouver. If you’re reading this on the web or someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, you can sign up for Politics Briefing and all Globe newsletters here. Have any feedback? Let us know what you think.
TODAY’S HEADLINES
The House of Commons has tied up some legislative loose ends, which, coupled with the fact that the Prime Minister is holding an end-of-sitting news conference this afternoon, might lead an observer to think MPs will begin their summer break later today.
The Toronto Star has pulled together an investigation into Question Period – how is the parliamentary feature used by opposition MPs and what is its use any more? The package includes a look at talking points, the MPs who don’t bother participating and why preparing for the political spectacle can take up some staffers’ entire days.
A Canadian-Palestinian doctor shot on the Israeli-Gaza border personally lobbied Mr. Trudeau yesterday to provide solar panels to hospitals in the area.
The Liberals have been appointing female judges at a higher rate than previous governments, but the overall figures are still shy of parity.
The federal Competition Bureau is calling for “true competition” in the wireless market and says a CRTC plan aimed at low-cost data packages falls short. The bureau says it supports a CRTC proposal to force national carriers to offer low-cost data packages, but the watchdog suggests that should only be a temporary measure until the CRTC addresses broader competition issues.
As the federal governments marches toward a battle with Ontario and Saskatchewan over carbon pricing, experts remain divided over whether such measures are effective at actually reducing emissions.
The British Columbia government is expected to announce an overhaul of its fish farm industry today, giving First Nations an effective veto over operations. The concession reaches beyond the traditional court-ordered requirement that Indigenous groups be consulted and accommodated on resource decisions. Some, but not all, First Nations along the coast oppose fish farms, which they worry are hurting wild salmon.
An Alberta law preventing schools from telling parents when children join gay-straight alliances will face its first legal challenge beginning today, as a judge hears arguments in a lawsuit launched by more than two dozen faith-based schools.
The local government in Calgary is restarting negotiations with the Calgary Flames over a possible replacement to the aging Saddledome arena.
And while Vancouver launches an ambitious new plan to dramatically expand social housing, a developer and a non-profit group are blaming the city for sinking a proposed development that would have included dozens of units for people with mental illness.
Campbell Clark (The Globe and Mail) on cannabis legalization: “That’s why the bill’s passage through the Senate is a political marker for Mr. Trudeau’s government: It is a success in overcoming inertia. There aren’t many Canadians who still believe their fellow citizens should go to jail for smoking a joint. Still, they worry about the pace of change.”
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on the opioid crisis: “The bottom line is that the terrible oversupply of opioids in all forms has not decreased. And it isn’t about to do so, either.“
Lawrence Martin (The Globe and Mail) on Trump’s family separation policy: “But does this crisis represent a crashing point or even a tipping point for Mr. Trump? Don’t count on it. He could well invert the laws of logic again.”
Denise Balkissoon (The Globe and Mail) on how Canadian travellers should respond: “Yet it also seems counterproductive to react to an isolationist movement by allowing the country to isolate itself and to isolate those trying hard to clean up this mess.”
John Ibbitson (The Globe and Mail) on the by-election in Quebec: “Canadian voters are not rallying to the Liberals in solidarity as Justin Trudeau confronts Donald Trump over tariffs and trade. If that confrontation damages the economy, watch out. Next year could be some general election.”
Chantal Hébert (Toronto Star) on the by-election: “To score a win on Monday, Scheer did not reinvent the wheel. He borrowed a page from Brian Mulroney’s handbook and made overtures to nationalist voters fleeing the Bloc’s civil war. And, like Stephen Harper often did before him, Scheer recruited a candidate whose local popularity stood to make up for his own lack of Quebec coattails.”
Paul Wells (Maclean’s) on NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh: “We keep looking for a politician who’ll stand up and admit failure. Suddenly here was one. There’s a kind of nobility in taking your licking, I guess.”
Gary Mason (The Globe and Mail) on the carbon-tax debate: “There is not a debate in the country right now filled with more dishonesty and misinformation than the one around carbon taxes. Everywhere you turn, politicians of a conservative bent are denouncing the climate-change measure as a pointless, economy-wrecking raid on people’s pocket books.”
The Globe and Mail Editorial Board on Trinity Western University: “At its core, however, the ruling strikes a difficult but appropriate balance between freedom of religion (TWU is a private Christian institution in Langley, B.C.) and the right of regulatory bodies (in this case the law societies of British Columbia and Ontario) to set their own rules.”
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Chris Hannay
James Keller