Liberals´ plan to legalize marijuana by midsummer passes first hurdle in the Senate
(The Star Fashion & Style)

OTTAWA—The Liberal plan to legalize marijuana by midsummer was rescued Thursday when senators — including Independents who were appointed but not controlled by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — voted for the Trudeau government’s proposed bill.In a 44-29 vote, the Senate nudged forward Bill C-45, one of two key bills that would enact a new legal framework for cannabis production and distribution.It was a “second reading� or vote on the bill in principle, and a late-hour victory that had appeared far from certain for a key Liberal promise, coming only after a memo went out late Wednesday to travelling independent senators to return for the crucial vote.Hours before, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had warned senators that his government was elected with a mandate to make the controversial change to Canada’s drug laws.“We expect a more independent Senate will do its work, to look at legislation sent by the House of Commons, that they evaluate the positive impacts on the community, that they bring ameliorations, if needed. But it is very clear that this bill responds first to an electoral promise that we made very clearly during the election campaign and for which Canadians voted, and also that is something that we will continue to work on with different levels of government.�The bill now moves on for more detailed study in Senate committees (in fact five committees will study different aspects of the legal pot scheme) with a final vote on the legislation expected in June.The Liberals’ proposed legislation — and its rush to get it passed into law before the end of the parliamentary sitting in June — had run into strong objections in the upper chamber from Conservatives and some Independents who feared the government was moving too fast. The vote capped several days of nail-biting in Senate hallways for the bill’s backers who figured they had just a six-vote margin to get the bill passed. They ...