Manitoba’s Premier is calling on the federal government to rethink the scheduled for its plan to legalize the use of marijuana as Canada prepares to enter sensitive negotiations aimed at revamping the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The first round of negotiations to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement, which involves Canada, the United States and Mexico, is scheduled to take place in Washington from August 16 to 20.
Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister told reporter, following this week’s summer meeting of Canada’s Premiers in Edmonton, now is not the time to be moving forward with legalizing marijuana.
Certainly I’m always concerned with respect to that border not getting thickened up. We’ve seen what can happen with other commodities over the years and the United States approach on trade has not always been friendly or supportive to our priorities.
That being said, one of the concerns certainly that several premiers had expressed in our discussions around trade was the fact that the federal government appears intent on moving very quickly with the legalization of marijuana right in the middle of what could be the most important trade discussion we’ve had in a number of years around NAFTA.
The United States considers marijuana, the possession of it to be a felony and the potential for legalization on our side of the 49 parallel, say in Manitoba, and then a trade impact with the United States seems self evident.
I would think there wouldn’t be a worse time to rush into legalizing marijuana than right in the middle of negotiating a free trade agreement with the United States.
~ Brian Pallister, Premier Manitoba
Pallister points out significant investments and efforts are being made to work with producers and producer groups to ensure agriculture continues to be able to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by NAFTA. He says the province is committed to protecting the families who are engaged in this important industry and all Manitobans who depend on the jobs and the wealth created by the agriculture.
