Mackay stands by marijuana comments
Trudeau remarks were inappropriate, law professor says
Justice Minister Peter MacKay isn’t backing down in the wake of a complaint asking a Nova Scotia regulator to investigate whether he went too far in taking pot shots at Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.
University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran has written to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, asking it to investigate and seek an apology from MacKay for allegedly misleading Canadians about federal laws by saying in a televised interview with CTV that “it’s currently against the law to smoke dope.”
Trudeau provoked the controversy after telling the Huffington Post Canada in an interview about his previous experiences of smoking pot, including as an MP when he took a puff of a joint being passed around at a private dinner party. The revelations prompted MacKay to accuse the Liberal leader of setting a poor example for Canadians by “flouting the laws of Canada.”
MacKay, as justice minister and attorney general of Canada, is the top prosecuting officer of the country that leads a team of lawyers in the Justice Department and is required by law to “see that the administration of public affairs is in accordance with law.”
Attaran’s letter, sent over the weekend to the society which regulates the legal profession in Nova Scotia, noted that the courts in Canada have concluded it’s against the law to possess marijuana, but that there’s no crime in smoking it.
Attaran, a lawyer and a biologist, also alleged that MacKay’s comments were inappropriate and partisan in nature since they said a crime was committed “without formally charging an offence.”
While the university professor said he’d be satisfied if MacKay apologizes and agrees to be cautious in the future, the justice minister did not directly respond to the matters raised in his complaint.
“Our office would like to point Mr. Attaran to section four of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act — where possession of marijuana is clearly outlined as a criminal offence,” said MacKay’s spokeswoman Paloma Aguilar in an email to Postmedia News.
MacKay declined to answer a followup question about whether it was appropriate for the attorney general to accuse someone of breaking a law prior to them being charged with a crime. “I’ll just refer you back to the original statement,” Aguilar wrote in a subsequent email.
Attaran said he is not a member of any political party and didn’t consult anyone prior to sending his letter, but felt it was important to remind the attorney general about his constitutional responsibilities as the country’s top lawmaker.