Justin Trudeau speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Dec.12, 2016.Chris Wattie/Reuters
POLITICS BRIEFING
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS MORNING
> You'll be able to legally toke just in time for the next election, according to Liberal sources. A federally appointed task force has recommended a regime for recreational marijuana that would make it available at store fronts and to Canadians over 18, though much of the details will be left to the provinces to work out. The buds will be lab-tested for safety – an issue The Globe raised this year.
> Federal and provincial finance ministers will meet in days, and negotiations continue around how much money Ottawa will give the provinces for health care next year.
> Justin Trudeau says those $1,500 cash-for-access fundraisers are a great opportunity to tell donors about his plan to grow the middle class.
> The United States is halting some arms sales to Saudi Arabia because of human rights concerns, but Canada says it doesn't plan on following suit.
> Those senators are at it again: this time a committee wants Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett to revamp or replace a bill tied to a court deadline. The senators on the committee say the bill might not proceed at all in its current form.
> Meanwhile, Senator John Wallace says he is stepping down after eight years to fulfill his pledge to Stephen Harper, who appointed him, to serve only that length of time. Other senators appointed by Mr. Harper say they have no intention of resigning any time soon.
> A House of Commons committee says Canada Post should bring back door-to-door delivery across the country, and maybe get into e-mail and social media services, too.
> Months in and with no official candidates, could Ontario's Jagmeet Singh be the first NDP leadership contender?
> And yet another major government IT project is not going as well as planned: the bid to unify government websites under the Canada.ca umbrella is a "disaster," one official says.
WHAT EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT
Daniel Bear (Globe and Mail): "It seems that the [marijuana legalization] task-force has provided a balanced and fair set of proposals that, if implemented correctly, would provide Canadians with access to cannabis without the tremendous over-reach of regulation and punishment that could have been proposed in order to quiet dissent against this departure from 90 years of prohibition. The details of this proposal have been catalogued already, but the real question remains: Will this set of proposals actually dismantle the black market for cannabis?"
Lawrence Martin (Globe and Mail): "With the exception of Conrad Black, precious few other Canadians speak highly of Mr. Trump, and many are irked that Mr. Mulroney would do so. It's typical Mulroney, they say. Currying favour with big-shot Americans. But more important now is the possibility that, given the potential Trumpian dangers to Canadian interests, Mr. Mulroney can use his persuasive powers to drive some sense into this man's head and rein him in. Who better to defend free trade, for example, than free trade's architect?"
Susan Delacourt (iPolitics): "Ever since Trudeau first embarked on his run for the leadership of the Liberal party, he has been reminding people – sometimes gently, sometimes harshly – that people shouldn't expect his government to be a warmed-over version of his father's government. In many ways, that has proved to be true. But if the Liberal party has really moved on and reinvented itself for a new century, why does it remain so attached to fundraising practices from the bad old days of privileged access?"
Michael Den Tandt (National Post): "[Kevin] O'Leary is an interloper. He hasn't put in the time in church basements. He hasn't manned a grill at a pancake breakfast, given a speech to a small room of prickly retirees in Durham, Ont., or otherwise paid his dues. All true, as far as I know. But here's the thing: Dues-paying, suddenly, is not so much the fashion. The fashion is busting down the front door, smashing the bone china and taking over."
Montreal Gazette editorial board: "Almost 14 years after Quebec allowed drivers to make red turns on red lights everywhere except the island of Montreal, a coalition of suburban mayors is calling for the manoeuvre to finally be legalized. They argue Montreal is the only place in North America where rights on reds are still banned and that the prohibition is costing commuters time and money. This is a terrible idea."
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Written by Chris Hannay. Edited by Steven Proceviat.