cannabisnews.com: Chrétien Blasts His MPs for Meddling with Pot Bill





Chrétien Blasts His MPs for Meddling with Pot Bill
Posted by CN Staff on August 21, 2003 at 07:39:43 PT
By Campbell Clark
Source: Globe and Mail 
North Bay, Ont. -- Prime Minister Jean Chrétien took a whack at a group of his own MPs yesterday, accusing them of asking the United States to "intervene" to block their own government's plans to decriminalize marijuana.The MPs met with a senior U.S. drug policy official in July, and a Canadian Foreign Affairs official present reported they suggested the United States press its objection to the marijuana policy, tying it to trade and border disputes.
Many of the MPs have insisted that their actions were innocent and wrongly portrayed by the civil servant who took notes, and that the memo may be an effort to smear them. Some of the MPs at the meeting have been regular critics of the Prime Minister.Mr. Chrétien suggested yesterday that the MPs invited the United States to intrude in Canadian policy. "I'm very surprised that they would use that route. We in Canada, we're passing laws in Canada," he said at a press conference in North Bay, where Liberal MPs and senators are meeting."It's the responsibility of members to discuss and debate. And in this case, we had a report from the Senate committee, a House of Commons committee, it's been debated for years, and we made a proposition on legislation."The MPs defended themselves by saying the meeting was an effort to hear the views of the U.S. government and little more.Earlier this week, MP Brenda Chamberlain acknowledged in an interview that she and others had asked the U.S. official, deputy drug czar Barry Crane, to tell the PM and federal bureaucrats about his concern that there could be difficulties at the Canada-U.S. border if the law passed. When Dr. Crane told the MPs that he had already done so, Ms. Chamberlain said MPs told him to repeat it, to underscore the concerns.She also said the MPs were not attempting to get Dr. Crane to lean on the Prime Minister and added that the meeting was not held at the American Embassy, as originally reported, but at Parliament Hill's West Block. She also said it was not a secret gathering.The incident sparked a heated argument among MPs at a closed-door meeting of the Liberals' Ontario caucus yesterday, sources in the caucus said.Toronto MP Charles Caccia blasted the group -- including MPs Dan McTeague, Roger Gallaway and Judi Longfield -- suggesting they should leave the party.But some of the MPs, including Mr. McTeague and Ms. Longfield, took to the microphone to defend their attendance at the meeting.The bureaucrat, whose memo The Globe and Mail was allowed to see and take notes from, said in the document that the MPs were "highly critical" of the reform bill, and that the "apparent aim of the members" was to solicit the help of U.S. officials to defeat it. With reports from Jane Taber and Brian Laghi.Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author: Campbell ClarkPublished: Thursday, August 21, 2003 - Page A4 Copyright: 2003 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.com/  Related Letter To The Editor:Smoke ScreenOttawa -- Each day members of Parliament meet with constituents, local community organizations, advocacy groups and others who are concerned about government policies. In addition, we meet with visiting delegations from other countries, their embassies and counsellor staff.It should therefore come as no surprise to anyone that we would meet with one of the leading experts on the war on drugs when he recently visited Parliament Hill (How Far Will MPs Go To Torpedo A Bill? -- editorial, Aug. 20). The meeting was arranged at the initiative of the U.S. embassy and allowed several MPs to have a frank discussion on issues that affect both Canadians and Americans. Media reports that suggest the meeting was intended to thwart the Canadian legislative process are a smoke screen to prevent real debate on an important policy issue.The real significance of the meeting is that MPs are becoming more active and involved in issues, and are prepared to research them independently.Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author: Dan McTeague, MPPublished: Thursday, August 21, 2003 - Page A16 Copyright: 2003 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmNot Leaning on US To Halt Marijuana Billhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17110.shtmlHow Far Will MPs Go To Torpedo a Bill?http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17109.shtmlMP Group Sought U.S. Help To Derail Pot Billhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread17098.shtmlU.S. Brings Anti-Pot Message To Ottawahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16784.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by OverwhelmSam on August 22, 2003 at 04:26:56 PT:
Let Them Torpedo The Bill
"The MPs defended themselves by saying the meeting was an effort to hear the views of the U.S. government and little more."Talk about an outright lie. Do legislators in Canada not know the U.S. views on marijuana? I think they understand the U.S. position all too well.But listen up Canadians, Marijuana Is Legal NOW! According to your courts, there is currently no enforceable law against personal possession and use. Maybe your legislators know what they're doing. If they torpedo the bill, marijuana is legal. Let the bill get derailed and enjoy your freedom.
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Comment #5 posted by kaptinemo on August 21, 2003 at 17:03:20 PT
Sorry, I meant MP's not PM
Because it seems M. Chretien has, in the winter of his political life, has found something to legitimately growl about.
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Comment #4 posted by kaptinemo on August 21, 2003 at 17:00:57 PT
Pathetic wriggling of trapped snakes
*"The meeting was arranged at the initiative of the U.S. embassy and allowed several MPs to have a frank discussion on issues that affect both Canadians and Americans. Media reports that suggest the meeting was intended to thwart the Canadian legislative process are a smoke screen to prevent real debate on an important policy issue.*"Oh, come on now! Is that the best they can do? They went behind the Canadian people's back to curry favor with a minor functionary of the US Federal government in order to place their own PM and Party on the spot.It was totally unnecessary for the these Grit jellyfish to meet with US officials; the US government's position has been crystal clear in intent and motivation for 67 years, and they have repeated it every day since then. Especially lately. Why bother to meet with this bureaucrat when they could have picked up a newspaper or tuned into American news media or simply picked up the phone and called their buddies in DC? Why even bother with that, when the US Feds would have told them the same thing they'd been saying for almost 7 decades?I've said it before: this issue, among few others, will be the defining point of Canadian sovereignty; either Canada is a nation unto itself, or it is the 51st State. Seems like a few of the MP's already believe it is the latter.As for those invertebrate , crawling PM's eager so apply vacuum force to Busch, AshKKKroft and Walter's reproductive equipment, expulsion from the party would be the least punishment possible to be made for this traitorous act. Their exit ought to be accompanied by tar-and-feathering for such craven toadying.
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Comment #3 posted by Motavation on August 21, 2003 at 10:13:09 PT:
czars belong in Russia,
Not America, or Canada.
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Comment #2 posted by Petard on August 21, 2003 at 09:20:49 PT
Blowing up in their faces
The best laid plans of mice and the elected and appointed mice... They solicited the Czar of USSA to interfere with their sovereignity and it's blowing up in their faces. First, when the press jumped on the border clogging threats by the Czar of USSA and the Canadian people thumbed their nose at it and said, "go ahead, eh. Costs you as much or more than us", and now when the lights are turned on the mice are scrambling for cover. Change, my friend, it's blowin' in the wind.
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Comment #1 posted by cloud7 on August 21, 2003 at 08:01:51 PT
they have it, but..
"we had a report from the Senate committee..."
if they had read it, cannabis would be legal and the untrue assumptions so often claimed could easily be refuted by the research in this document. The committee did not recommend making cannabis possesion a lighter crime and cultivation a greater one. It recommended full legalization as the only solution.
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