Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants to share a 10 percent excise tax on legalized marijuana sales with the provinces and territories. But, Tuesday at a first ministers conference in Ottawa, the premiers said that wouldn’t give them enough money since they are going to pay for most of the costs of selling legal pot to users.
The proposal took the premiers by surprise while one critic of legal marijuana says Trudeau is entirely motivated by “greed.”
Canada is preparing to legalize recreational marijuana use by July 1, 2018. Trudeau is selling the plan as a means of “protecting children” and reducing the influence of organized crime in the sale of the product. He has so far downplayed the potential for large government revenues from taxing marijuana.
But Pamela McColl, spokesperson for Smart Approaches to Marijuana, told The Daily Caller Wednesday that Trudeau’s pot strategy is based on growing government revenue and nothing else. “His motivation is greed. First it was political greed by using marijuana legalization to get elected and now it is greed for taxpayers’s dollars.”
McColl called the legalization plan a “national disaster.” She says, “This is a callous, self-serving government that is not putting health first — to their detriment.” She predicted the results of legalizing marijuana “will bring down this government.”
Proceeds from Trudeau’s 10 percent plan will be divided equally between the federal government and the provinces. But many premiers say that’s hardly fair since they are expected to produce an entire sales infrastructure to market the legal weed and then grapple with the consequences of the anticipated increase in impaired driving charges and other related offenses.
Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister, who has feuded with Trudeau over health care costs in the past, spoke for his colleagues when he said, “We really don’t know what the ramifications are of this. This is a historic change. We don’t know the real costs. We do know the lion’s share of the work and expenses will be borne by provinces. We might be splitting a cost, not a net proceed.”
Speaking to reporters at a news conference, Trudeau acknowledged that “significant new costs going to be associated with bringing in a framework and legalized regime like this.”
Liberal MP Bill Blair, a former Toronto chief of police whom Trudeau has recruited to promote his marijuana policy, tried to move the discussion back to protecting children and fighting organized crime:
“I would like to reassure you. The objective around the table is not to want to make lots of money by legalizing marijuana,” he said.
