Government scrambles to bring senators back to Ottawa to avoid pot bill defeat

Date:

If bill is voted down, a summer timeline for legalization becomes much less likely – In an effort to stave off an embarrassing defeat on one of the Trudeau government’s most prominent campaign promises, some Independent senators were called back to Ottawa today to cast votes to move the marijuana bill to its next stage.

The cannabis legalization bill, C-45, is currently at second reading in the upper house. If the Conservatives can cobble together enough votes today, they can kill the bill and force the government to restart the legislative process in the House of Commons, putting in jeopardy a plan to legalize the drug for recreational use by summer.

The timing of the vote is not yet final, but it’s likely to happen between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. ET.

Two Senate committees are currently on the road, meaning some Independent and Liberal senators who support the bill were scheduled to be out of town today.

Non-affiliated Alberta Sen. Grant Mitchell, the government’s liaison — who works as a whip without some of the same coercive powers normally afforded to a partisan caucus — and Independent Quebec Sen. Marc Gold, the liaison for the Independent Senators Group, were busy working the phones Wednesday night, encouraging senators to show up in Ottawa Thursday.

Read full article here.

John Paul Tasker – CBC News Posted – March 22, 2018.

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