Cannabis will be legal on October 17, Trudeau says
Published June 20, 2018 Updated June 20, 2018
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has picked October 17 as the day on which all adult Canadians will have legal access to cannabis for recreational use.
Mr. Trudeau said that Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia have asked for more time, with the federal government now giving them 17 weeks to get ready. There will be an election in Quebec on Oct. 1, which helps to explain why the provincial government sought more time.
The government had initially aimed to legalize cannabis by July 1, but Bill C-45 was not adopted in time by Parliament. Originally, the government had planned for only a two-to-three-month gap between the bill passing and legalization.
Mr. Trudeau made the announcement in the House of Commons on Wednesday, the day after the bill passed its final vote in Parliament.
After Question Period, NDP MP Don Davies tried to pass a motion to “immediately provide pardons for those burdened by criminal records for cannabis offences that will soon be legal.”
The motion did not receive unanimous consent and failed.
Earlier in the day, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould cautioned Canadians that recreational marijuana use is “not legal yet” and existing laws remain in place until the date of legalization is announced by the government.
“Cannabis for non-medical use is not legal yet. The law still remains the law,” Ms. Wilson-Raybould told reporters.
Ms. Wilson-Raybould also said provinces can pass their own laws regarding home cultivation, which the federal legislation allows in small amounts. This comes in response to opposition from Quebec and Manitoba who want to ban homegrown plants in their respective provinces. But she suggested provinces could face legal challenges in doing so.
“It is not the intent of the federal government to challenge provincial laws. That is not our place. However, there may arise a challenge by an individual of another jurisdiction’s law,” she said.
When asked if the government is considering amnesty or pardons for people who have criminal records for marijuana crimes, Ms. Wilson-Raybould said the issue is under “consideration” by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale.
In a historic vote on Tuesday, Parliament changed Canadian law to lift the 95-year-old prohibition on cannabis and free millions of adults to openly smoke, ingest or grow the drug without fear of a criminal record.
The adoption in the Senate of Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, means that a legal, multibillion-dollar industry is set to appear in Canada, which will join Uruguay as one of the few countries where cannabis is legal nationwide.
The next steps will include releasing the regulations for the cannabis trade, including approving edible products within a year, and working with Indigenous communities to smooth out the negative consequences of the transition to legal cannabis.
In addition, the government will start to look for a way to clear the criminal records of hundreds of thousands of Canadians who were convicted of simple possession under prohibition.
All producers of cannabis will have to be licensed by Health Canada, while provinces will oversee the distribution of the dried cannabis and oils to the retail market. Canadian adults (the minimum age varies by province) will be able to carry up to 30 grams, with stiff new penalties for providing the drug to minors.
Revenues from the legal market are expected to be used, at least initially, to cover costs related to policing, enforcement, setting up public distribution networks and creating public-awareness campaigns. Cannabis will be subject to an excise tax of $1 a gram, or 10 per cent on sales of more than $10, with Ottawa keeping 25 per cent and the rest going to provinces and municipalities.
