Members of opposition parties in Canada are asking Liberal leaders for more information about their plans to legalize cannabis, urging members of the majority party to provide the costs for the seed-to-sale tracking system and outline specific tax measures under the proposal, according to a Canadian Press report.
Colin Carrie, a member of the Conservative Party, said the Liberals’ failure to include the cost of the tracking system “is just basically more shady behavior” related to the legalization legislation.
“They want to put a pot registry in, but they are not telling us about how much it is going to cost,” he said in the report.
Health Canada called such systems “common features” of legal cannabis programs in the U.S. but did not offer a price estimate.
Alistair MacGregor, a member of the New Democratic Party, said without knowing the tax scheme for the legal cannabis industry one of the biggest questions is not just the cost of the registry, but the cost of all enforcement measures.
“…How much of this is going to be downloaded to the provinces?” he asked.
Liberal leaders, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, have said the legalization plan is designed to reduce social and health harms associated with cannabis use and keep it out of the hands of children.