Canadian bill S-10 up in smoke!

TLDL: Government wanted to impose a law making mandatory minimum sentencing for people growing 6+ pot plants, drug offenses occurring close to schools, drugs in public etc. And because of opposition party's not backing the bill in the up coming vote. Bill s-10 is going up in smoke.

Attempted to pass in 2008, and Parliament prorogued.

Passed Senate in Dec 2010

Bill "On notice" Feb 09/ 2011
Within a few days this bill will be voted on, and most likely be ground up, rolled up and lit on fire!









OTTAWA - The Conservative government's controversial bill that would impose mandatory jail time for offenders caught growing a handful of marijuana plants appears headed to the trash can.
The Liberals announced Wednesday they will not support Bill S-10, which has already been passed by the Senate.
"I'm very disappointed that they have had this complete flip-flop," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told Postmedia News.
The Liberals, who supported previous versions of the bill, now say it would excessively punish some people for minor offences and would cost too much to implement because it will jam prisons that are already filled to the brink. The Conservatives have said they will spend $2 billion over the next five years to expand prisons.
"We just think this is bad criminal justice policy," Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff told reporters Wednesday. "It's going to cost this country billions of dollars. We think it's the wrong way to go."
The NDP and Bloc Quebecois have always been against the bill, first introduced in 2008, but the Liberals helped the Tories pass it through the House of Commons and onto the Senate in December 2009. Liberals in the upper chamber watered the bill down and it was in its final stages when Prime Minister Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament, killing the legislation.
A new bill - closer to the original version that ignored the Liberal amendment - was introduced in the Senate in May 2010.
The Liberal senators tried again to amend the bill at the Senate legal and constitutional affairs committee but failed after losing their majority in the upper chamber. The bill passed on Dec. 13, 2010.
It's now in the hands of MPs and on Wednesday the government put S-10 on notice, meaning it could be raised for debate in the next few days. That move prompted the Liberals to announce their new position, which effectively seals the fate of the bill and will force the Tories to start from scratch, again.
Nicholson, however, isn't prepared to accept that the bill is headed for defeat.
He's hoping enough Liberals will break party ranks and defy Ignatieff, siding instead with the government. "I'm hoping that they will lean on him to get this bill passed. So I'm not giving up."
While the Liberals say the bill could unfairly target young people, Nicholson said the proposed changes to the existing laws are aimed squarely at drug traffickers and organized crime.
The bill would impose a mandatory minimum sentence of six months in jail for an offender convicted of growing between five and 201 marijuana plants for the purpose of trafficking. The more plants that are grown, the longer the minimum sentence.
The bill also proposes a series of other changes to current drug laws, including mandatory sentences for drug crimes committed near schools.
"This bill sends out the right message and the idea that we shouldn't be jailing people who are selling drugs around schools or people who are bringing drugs into Canada is something I completely disagree with," said Nicholson. "And I think most Canadians agree would agree with me."
Critics of automatic sentencing say the measures will flood prisons that are already overcrowded, will strip judges of their discretion to impose sentences as they see fit and are ineffective in reducing drug use and improving public safety.
"It's going to add huge amounts of money to Canadian prison costs, it's going to target young people, a guy who gets messed up with Tylenol 3 or has six marijuana plants," Ignatieff said. "We just think this is not the right way to go for Canadian justice policy. It follows a failed American model so we're going to vote against it."

Read more: Drug-offence bill likely to go up in smoke as Liberals change position
​