OTTAWA—Senators are being encouraged to postpone a vote on a bill to legalize recreational cannabis by a now-former employee of the Conservative’s chief critic of the legislation.
Sen. Claude Carignan said Friday he did not authorize Malcolm Armstrong, whom he’d hired on contract to advise him on the marijuana issue, to propose delaying the vote. The Conservative senator called the idea “crazy” and unrealistic.
Indeed, Carignan said he fired Armstrong on Friday after finding out he’d circulated a paper among independent senators urging them to postpone the final vote on Bill C-45 until they hear back from a special committee that he suggested should be set up to study aspects of legalization that have not yet been adequately considered.
A spokesperson for Conservative Senate leader Larry Smith disavowed the paper and said the Conservatives continue to abide by an agreement among all Senate factions to hold a final vote on the bill by June 7 — a timetable aimed at allowing the Trudeau government to meet its commitment to having retail sales of legal marijuana available late this summer.
