LIBERALS THREATEN TO END DEBATE AS DEADLINE LOOMS

The Trudeau government is moving to ensure the Senate doesn’t hold up its plans to legalize recreational marijuana in July. The government’s representative in the upper house, Sen. Peter Harder, wants second reading debate on Bill C-45 wrapped up by March 1, after which it would go to committee for detailed examination. If the various Senate factions won’t agree to that timetable — in particular, Conservative senators who’ve been stalling the bill’s progress — Harder warns he’ll move a motion to impose time allocation to cut off debate, the first time he’s threatened to resort to that tactic since taking on the role of government representative two years ago. The move to speed up the glacial pace of the bill through the Senate suggests the government is hoping to have cannabis available for sale in July.