Sober, but quick, thought
The most important social and legal change in Canada during 2018 will almost certainly be the legalization of marijuana. This move, the boldest by the Trudeau government so far, will end almost a century of prohibition of cannabis that has resulted in a great deal of misery while delivering few benefits in return.
The House of Commons has passed two laws that will make the consumption of marijuana legal while toughening the rules against abuse of the drug. The prime minister says his goal to put them into effect by “next summer.”
But it’s far from clear that will happen. Conservatives in the Senate are threatening to derail the entire project by stretching out debate on legalization in the upper chamber for many months — past the original deadline of July, and possibly deep into next fall.
They should cease and desist. The appointed Senate has a constitutional job to do in reviewing legislation passed by the elected Commons. But deliberately thwarting the will of MPs by manipulating the arcane rules of the Senate is something else again.
The Senate officially began debate on Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, and C-46, which would tighten rules on impaired driving related to marijuana use, at the end of November, as soon as the Commons passed them
So it had seven months to vet the bills — ample time if senators are honestly determined to fulfil their duties while respecting the will of the Commons.
But debate in the Senate is far from straightforward and since the Conservatives form the single biggest group on party lines (ever since Justin Trudeau freed Liberal senators from party discipline), they can control the pace of debate.
At the moment, Conservatives have 34 members in the Senate, compared with 39 Independents and just 15 Liberals. That gives the Conservative minority unusual power to manipulate the chamber’s rules.
But if they do that to defy the elected Commons and delay these laws unnecessarily, their party and the entire Senate will be discredited.
The upper chamber should do its job — in a timely, organized fashion that allows the best possible law on legalization to be adopted on the government’s schedule.