This is a rather long article so I will post the link if anyone wants to read a pretty interesting article.

Facing The Change: 5 Canadian communities threatened by climate change now
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/five-canadian-communities-threatened-by-climate-change-now-1.3776341

 

National price on carbon is coming


Environment Minister Catherine McKenna says she has no qualms about the government's move to impose a national price on carbon, despite some pushback from some provinces.

Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and Saskatchewan walked out of this week's environment ministers' meeting in Montreal after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood in the House of Commons to announce his intention to force all provinces to levy a price on carbon by 2018.

• Justin Trudeau gives provinces until 2018 to adopt carbon price plan
• Here's where the provinces stand on carbon prices

Provinces will have two options, either a price on carbon, or a cap and trade system. The "floor price" is $10 a tonne of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions starting in 2018, which will rise to $50 by 2022.

Some of the provinces said the move was a surprise, but McKenna rejected that characterization in an interview with CBC Radio's The House. "We need a system that has some coherence across the country," she said. "There is a lot of flexibility for provinces within those two systems, and they keep the money. Provinces need to design a system that makes sense for them."

The carbon price is the cornerstone of Canada's ambitious plan to cut emissions by 30 per cent of 2005 levels before the 2030 deadline. McKenna said the government will also push for energy "interties," so provinces with a surplus of clean energy can sell it to neighbouring provinces more reliant on GHG intensive fuel sources.

Building retrofits, and reducing emissions from the transportation sector are other ways Canada can meet its obligations under the Paris climate agreement, she said.


The NDP and Green Party have been critical of McKenna's adoption of the former Harper government's targets.

"When you have targets, like the previous government, and no plan. They're worth zero," she said. "Canadians actually want to see action."

She did leave the door open for more ambitious targets down the line, but said she's principally focussed on the current plan.

"We're certainly going to try, every five years we're going to take stock and improve," she said. "You can't do everything at once."

One of the ministers who walked out on McKenna Monday was Saskatchewan's environment minister Scott Moe — and there's more fight in him.

• Saskatchewan premier slams Justin Trudeau for 'betrayal' over carbon pricing

"We're looking at, as the premier said on Friday, whether it's in the capability of the federal government to assess a carbon tax on one or two or three jurisdictions. Whatever that may be," Moe told The House host Chris Hall. "We're looking at what all our options would be."

Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall has publicly called the government's plan to charge polluters up to $50 for every tonne of carbon emitted a "betrayal."

Besides legal options, Moe said his government is "going to start to tell our story" — including touting its environmental strides so far.

"What we've done here and what technology we may have here to offer around the world. You're going to see us tell a more fulsome story of what Saskatchewan is actually doing and why there is not a need for a carbon tax on industry here in the province."

Moe — and Wall — argue Saskatchewan will be one of the provinces hardest hit by an imposed system because of its export resource industries, including agriculture, mining and energy.

"As you add costs to those industries, they can move for the most part to other jurisdictions," he said. "And very quickly companies can shift their investments."

The federal government's environmental watchdog says the way Canada's nuclear plants are inspected is "disconcerting" and needs improvement.

• Nuclear power plant safety inspections hit and miss, watchdog says

In a report released Tuesday, Julie Gelfand, commissioner of the environment and sustainable development, found a number of failings at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. That's the agency responsible for ensuring nuclear plants are safe and secure.

She said 75 per cent of site safety inspections were carried out without an approved guide.

"It would be like an airline pilot who has to do the pre-flight checklist not having it or not doing it because [they say] 'I've been doing this for 30 years I don't need to do this," Gelfand told The House.

She said site inspections aren't the only thing the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission does when it comes to monitoring safety at their nuclear reactors, but "it's the most important thing."


The Liberal government's representative in the Senate says he wants to see members of the Red Chamber organized by region, rather than along traditional party lines, a move he says is necessary with Independents poised to become the biggest group in the upper house.

"I think that we may go through a period of some experimentation. I, myself, am biased to the notion of regional divisions for organizational purposes and leaving open a wider number of groups for affinity around policy or other associations," Senator Peter Harder told The House.

• Senate proceedings should be televised, committee says

"But the reality is that duopoly of control that the parties have enjoyed in the Senate, is over."

The Senate's modernization committee recommended this week that the upper house expand the definition of "caucus" to include groups of nine or more senators "formed for a parliamentary purpose," to solve some of the current inequities faced by Independent senators.

That report also recommended allowing TV cameras in the chamber, and changing the rules around how the Senate Speaker is selected.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is poised to fill the current 21 seat vacancies this fall, bringing the number of Independents to 44 members in the 105-seat upper house. (The Conservatives have 40 seats, and the Liberals have 21.)

 

Oh ya, one more thing since the cunts in management here removed my Thanksgiving Day thread but left all the one's that should be in sexuality or personals ...

Happy Thanksgiving Fellow Canadians.

 

Mountie shot in arm near Golden, suspect shot by police
October 11, 2016 10:11 PM PDT


Traffic has been blocked at Donald Bridge on Highway 1, about 28 km north of Golden, B.C. Screen shot / Drive BC



A Mountie was shot Tuesday at the Donald scale west of Golden and police were looking for the suspect.

RCMP said police stopped a vehicle near the Donald weigh scales in connection to a possible theft.

“The suspect in the stopped vehicle failed to comply with police direction, and subsequently stole a nearby vehicle. During this incident an RCMP officer was injured with what is believed to be non-life threatening injuries,” Mounties said in a news release.

An employee of a nearby gas station told Postmedia that a police officer had been shot in the arm and the suspect, who fled in a stolen car, was also shot by police.

“At this time we’re confirming that our officer sustained a gunshot injury during the circumstances surrounding the initial vehicle stop,” said Staff Sgt. Rob Vermeulen, spokesman for RCMP in B.C.

“The police officer has been taken to hospital. The officer and family are being offered all possible support.”

Witness Greg Jeannotte told Global B.C. that police were operating a check stop on the highway when the driver behind him pulled out a rifle as police approached.

“I heard two gun shots, one came from the police … and one came from the rifle. I heard ‘Police officer down, police officer down,’ ” Jeannotte told Global B.C.

“The suspect jumped over the median and pointed his gun at an older couple and told them to get out of the vehicle. They complied and he drove off westbound on Trans-Canada Highway 1.”

Vermeulen said no one was in custody as of Tuesday night. The search for the suspect was continuing.

Highway 1 west of Golden was shut down to traffic after the incident but was partly reopened Tuesday night.

“Thank you very much to the motoring public for their patience,” Vermeulen said. “These are serious allegations, and our officers needed to work quickly to gather perishable evidence.”

 

Former Alberta premier Jim Prentice among 4 killed in B.C. plane crash
Twin-engine Cessna en route to Calgary area disappeared from radar shortly after leaving Kelowna on Thursday

Former Alberta premier Jim Prentice was among the four people killed in a small-plane crash in British Columbia on Thursday night, CBC News has confirmed.

Prentice, 60, was aboard a twin-engine Cessna Citation that disappeared from radar shortly after takeoff from Kelowna, en route to the Springbank Airport, just outside Calgary.

Bill Yearwood, who's with the Transportation Safety Board, confirmed Friday that the plane's wreckage was found near Winfield, B.C., and described the crash as "unsurvivable."

"The aircraft is destroyed; all persons on board lost their lives," Yearwood said.

Prentice served as Alberta premier from September 2014, when he won the leadership of Progressive Conservative Party.

In February 2015, Prentice discussed the challenges facing his province and the country at large in the wake of plunging oil prices in an extended interview with Peter Mansbridge.






Mansbridge One on One: Jim Prentice22:26

In May 2015, the PCs were handed their first electoral defeat in nearly half a century, at the hands of the Alberta NDP, and Prentice resigned as both party leader and MLA.

Before becoming premier, he served as vice-chair and senior executive vice-president with CIBC from 2010 to 2014.

Prentice also had a career in federal politics. He served as MP for Calgary Centre-North from 2004 to 2010, with stints as industry minister, environment minister and minister of Indian affairs and northern development in Stephen Harper's cabinet.

 

Canada’s Life Insurers Do a 180 on Marijuana Use: Is the US Next?
Two Canadian life insurance companies, Sun Life and BMO Insurance, have agreed to classify marijuana users as non-smokers. What exactly does this mean for their customers?It means they can stop worrying their life insurance premiums will spike due to their smoking habits. This is true whether they’re medicinal or recreational users.

This is big news for Canadian cannabis smokers.
https://www.theweedblog.com/canada-life-insurance-marijuana-use/

 

This is just another way for insurance companies to muddy the water when it comes time to paying out and the BMO policy is for those that smoke 2 or less joints a week so good luck proving that you stuck to that guideline when they say fuck you come payout time. The same goes for any other insurance company that blows smoke up your ass (pun intended) and says "we are here for you in your time of need" ...

Speaking of BMO, banks have zero fucking business being in the insurance business.

 

Shoppers Drug Mart formally applies to distribute medical marijuana
Pharmacy chain is asking for producer licence, but it plans on just distributing

Canada's largest pharmacy chain has formally applied to be a distributor of medical marijuana.

"We have applied to be a licensed producer strictly for the purposes of distributing medical marijuana," Shoppers Drug Mart spokeswoman Tammy Smitham told CBC News in an email Tuesday.

"We have no intention of producing medical marijuana, but we do want the ability to dispense medical marijuana to our patients in conjunction with counselling from a pharmacist."

• DON PITTIS: Changes to pot laws must get down to business

The move is the next step in a logical progression for the chain, which earlier this year was looking into the possibility of entering the burgeoning business.

At a Shoppers drug mart location in downtown Toronto, shopper Shannon Lang was surprised by the decision. "It seems very off brand," she said. "It's got a pharmacy so kind of I guess it's OK [but] it just seems a little weird."

According to the latest government data, more than 75,000 Canadians had valid prescriptions for medical marijuana at the end of June — a figure that has tripled in the past year — and they had purchased a total of more than 4,000 kilograms of dried marijuana in the previous three months. That works out to a little less than a gram of pot per day, per person.


More than 75,000 Canadians currently have a valid prescription to receive medical marijuana. (Ed Andrieski/Associated Press)

Ottawa is in the midst of updating the laws surrounding the drug, including possibly legalizing it in a limited fashion for recreational use.

The previous government prohibited people with a valid prescription from producing medical marijuana themselves, requiring them instead to order it from a licensed producer, who would deliver it via the mail.

In February, a judge struck down that law and gave Ottawa six months to update the rules.

Then in August, the government did just that, but still didn't make it legal to sell any form of marijuana via a retail location. "Storefronts selling marijuana, commonly known as 'dispensaries' and 'compassion clubs,' are not authorized to sell cannabis for medical or any other purposes,' Health Canada said at the time.

Officially, people who need medical marijuana have to either produce it themselves or obtain it from one of a few dozen licensed producers — a list that Shoppers isn't on but wants to join.

• Pharmacist group touts industry as 'safest option'

With more than 1,200 locations across Canada including Pharmaprix in Quebec, Shoppers is the largest pharmacy chain in the country, and the industry's lobby group has been pushing the government to make pharmacies the dominant distributor for the drug, since they have experience dealing with other controlled substances.

"As we have indicated in the past we believe that allowing medical marijuana to be dispensed through pharmacy would increase access, safety, quality and security for the thousands of Canadians who use the drug as part of their medication therapy," Shoppers said Tuesday.

"We are hoping that the Government of Canada will revise the current regulations to allow for the dispensing of medical marijuana at pharmacy," Smitham added.

• Legal pot could draw investment bonanza from U.S. to Canada

Shoppers is owned by Loblaw Companies Ltd. and at the company's annual general meeting in May, chairman Galen G. Weston said he supported the industry's push toward dispensing marijuana via bricks and mortar pharmacies.

"We're an industry that is extremely effective at managing controlled substances," Weston said at the time.

"It gives pharmacists the opportunity to work directly in real time with patients as opposed to doing it through the mail, working on their doses and making sure it actually has the therapeutic effect that it is intended to have."


In May, Loblaw's head Galen Weston said patients would be able to receive more consultation if the dispensing was done face-to-face via a pharmacist. ( Aaron Vincent Elkaim/Canadian Press)

While Ottawa has made noises about legalizing recreational marijuana use some day soon, what Shoppers is trying to do is get a leg up until that happens by dominating the medical marijuana business, Amir Attaran of the University of Ottawa's school of law and school of medicine told CBC News in an interview.

"Obviously Shoppers wants any dollar it can lay its hands on so they're making a go for it," he said, adding that he expects the provincial liquor boards would likely be Ottawa's first choice to sell marijuana of all forms at the retail level.

"Someone is going to get the profit margin on selling medical and recreational marijuana," Attaran said. "And I don't think for a moment the provinces would give that up without a fight."

• Pharmacy group looking into logistics of legal pot

Another major pharmacy chain, Rexall, says there is far too much uncertainty in the market right now — most notably the total lack of clarity of what the legal situation will ultimately be.

"We are keeping an eye on it, but overall our position hasn't changed," spokesman Derek Tupling said in an interview.

"There's still a few big hurdles that need to be jumped over," Tupling said. "There's still a lot of issues that need to be resolved."

 

Here's one for you hosers.
The Trump fortune began in Bennett Lake , BC near Whitehorse with Frederich Trump who ran the Artic Hotel, a hotel, bar, restaurant and brothel during the Klondike Gold Rush. The nest egg he grew from those TWO years started the Trump Fortune.

This is what was said about the Artic Hotel.
I would advise respectable women travelling alone, or with an escort, to be careful in their selection of hotels at Bennett,” according to a letter penned by “The Pirate” in the Yukon Sun on April 17, 1900. For single men, the Arctic offered excellent accommodations but women should avoid it “as they are liable to hear that which would be repugnant to their feelings and uttered, too, by the depraved of their own sex.”

I only post this as I thought it was interesting because I hadn't heard this story before and I enjoy stories of the Klondike Gold Rush.
www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-trump-family-fortune/?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1

 

The gold rush is always an interesting story like you said and I could read about it for days on end or watch the documentaries. I enjoy the TV program Yukon Gold on History Channel related to gold prospecting and they regularly talk about the old gold rush as well.

Anyway, Bennett Lake has quite the American connection including being named after an American newspaper editor from the NY Herald James Bennett who bankrolled the Franklin Expedition back in the 1800's to attempt to locate the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus to no avail since they were nowhere near their last documented location ... we found the Erebus in 2014 and the Terror in 2016 some 140 years after the initial search. While studying at the University of Alberta I was working on the FEFAP project in 1981 to retrace the path that the shipwrecked men took which eventually consumed all of them due to poor health and starvation and hypothermia. Most had scurvy but that wasn't the worst thing that contributed to their deaths, they had massive lead levels in their system which was almost 10 times the average levels of control samples from that region. They were also to weak and sick to hunt for food to survive for any length of time, not that they would have ever been found unless they made it back to civilization. The work we started back then is still ongoing to this day with excavation sites.

Really interesting stuff and you just brought back memories from your post as we did a deep water dive in Bennett 6 years ago when I first noticed it from a helicopter on our way to Hyder Alaska where we have our annual company retreat and enjoy some of the most beautiful areas N America has to offer ... and the best Salmon fishing in the world.

For all the years that I built gas plants/ oil batteries and booster stations I made a habit of visiting with the local elders of the area and listened for hours on end nightly to the stories that they had to share that has been handed down from generation to generation that you can't learn from a history book ...

Btw @Rixer, great post and very informative and interesting link, even though it is a story that has Trump attached to it but the old man was the type of man I would have loved to know as he made his fortune from the ground up and you have got to admire a man that provided booze and women to prospectors with pockets full of gold nuggets without a clue as to the real value of their find lol. I don't have much room to talk though as a few years ago Sarah Palin was my keynote speaker at our annual retreat and she "isn't a lot of things" but does know her stuff about the region where we set up camp in Hyder and she is even hotter in person than on television.

 

A 21 year old Alberta man has been charged with murder after walking into an Abbotsford BC school and stabbing 2 students. One girl died and the other is in critical condition.

There is no apparent connection between any of those involved ...

Can't go into further detail due to age issues here but you can google it if interested.

My condolences go out to the families of the victims.

 

Freedom of the press suffers a terrible death in Quebec ...

SQ spied on six reporters, as La Presse calls for end to wiretapping


Montreal police weren't the only ones spying on reporters.

It turns out the Sureté du Quebec also had warrants to tap the phones of at least six reporters -- and once again the main goal appears to be figuring out which police officers were talking to the press.

The reporters being spied on include Eric Thibault of the Journal de Montreal, Denis Lessard of La Presse, and Marie-Maude Denis, Alain Gravel, and Isabelle Richer of Radio Canada.

On Wednesday evening, Felix Seguin of TVA learned the sixth reporter targeted by the SQ was noted gangster specialist Andre Cedilot.

Richer is outraged.

"I feel attacked in my certitude which is that I believe in a democratic society like ours it won't happen. I believed that until today. Now I'm shocked, I'm in the middle of a TV series on HBO. It's unreal. I couldn't believe it," said Richer.

An SQ spokesperson said the police force was not listening to conversations, but was keeping track of every number dialled.

The investigations into the reporters began in 2003 as the SQ was investigating the former president of the QFL labour union, Michel Arsenault.

He resigned as the head of the labour union in 2013 after Radio Canada broadcast a report that looked at his ties to then-Premier Pauline Marois and her husand's investments, and the union's ties to organized crime.

Several reporters covered the SQ investigation of Arsenault, and that prompted then SQ chief Mario Laprise to find out who was leaking information, and to get warrants for wiretaps.

The current SQ director, Martin Prud'homme, said he is upset to learn of the wiretaps an is calling for an independent third party to review the warrants and the police investigations.

This comes the day after Premier Philippe Couillard called for the Ministry of Public Security to investigate the SQ, Quebec City police, and Montreal police.

On Monday and Tuesday La Presse columnist and CJAD contributor Patrick Lagacé learned he was the subject of at least 24 search warrants as Montreal police tried to figure out which officers were talking to the press.

The police department was also keeping track of all phone calls between police officers and three other reporters: Felix Seguin of TVA, Monic Neron of 98.5 FM, and freelance journalist Fabrice de Pierrebourg.

Cease and Desist

Meanwhile La Presse is calling on Montreal police to stop tapping Lagacé's phone, and to stop using all the information collected during the course of its investigation.

The newspaper's lawyer, Sebastien Pierre-Roy, sent a legal letter to police calling the force's actions "a scandal and an unprecedented attack on the freedom of the press."

The lawyer said he has not had any response to the letter he sent to Montreal police on Monday, and so he is going to head to court to end the wiretapping.

Police began tapping Lagacé's phone as part of an investigation into drug traffickers, information about which was leaked to Lagacé.

Closed session

Many people have called for Montreal Police chief Philippe Pichet to step down, but so far he has refused.

Mayor Denis Coderre said will get explanations from the police chief, but that will happen during a closed-door session of the city's public security commission.

"I think that we have a process. We will respect that process. Mr. Pichet will remain as director, and through the process we will see what happens then," said Coderre.

The Quebec Federation of Journalists is demanding an immediate public inquiry into how police were allowed to request and obtain mandates to spy on reporters.

 

An Amber alert in Saskatchewan turns to tragedy after the 7 year old girl was found dead a short time after the father was also found dead of an apparent suicide ...

For obvious reasons I can't expand on this story but wanted people to at least know.

 

Never realized that Manitoba had so many lakes, just flying over it right now. No wonder they have so many mosquito's there ...

 

Canadian marijuana producers eye U.S. market to have their weed and smoke it too


The groundswell of American states that bent toward legalization last week may give a big boost to Canada’s marijuana industry — not because Canadian producers want to move south, but because the drug’s murky U.S. legal status positions them to have their weed and smoke it too.

California, Nevada, Massachusetts and Maine voted to legalize recreational marijuana last Tuesday and four more states voted in favour of medical marijuana use.

The vote sent cannabis stocks in Canada and the U.S. soaring. Shares of Los Angeles-based Pineapple Express Inc. rose 29 per cent Wednesday while the legalization news pushed Canada’s largest marijuana company, Canopy Growth Corp., to a billion-dollar valuation.

One in five Americans now live in states where pot is legal for adult use and the U.S. market for recreational marijuana is twice the size of Canada.

However, U.S. producers face a major problem with their product: It is still on the federal government’s list of Schedule I narcotics, alongside heroin and LSD.

Marijuana companies in the U.S. are hamstrung by their federal outlaw status, which prevents them from receiving corporate tax breaks and exporting products across borders. Conflicting U.S. laws also dissuade investment in research and development — which could help determine potential benefits and side effects — because patents are federally issued.

That disconnect between state and federal laws presents Canadian companies with a unique competitive advantage.

“The longer it takes for U.S. federal law to deem marijuana legal, the longer the Canadian licensed producers have to establish more international partnerships and create higher barriers to entry,” said Dundee Capital Markets analyst Daniel Pearlstein.

With U.S. competitors weakened by regulatory risks and Canadian companies already leaders in the nascent global marijuana market, Canada’s marijuana producers are well-positioned to become the pre-eminent marijuana multinationals, Pearlstein said.

“Canada is probably three to four years ahead of any other country in terms of the scale of companies that we’ve been building,” he said.

Canada’s large-scale commercial medical marijuana program is the most sophisticated in the world, which has created demand for Canadian licensed producers to share their expertise in exchange for fees, royalties or shares of their businesses.

As legalization takes hold south of the border, Canadian companies have a massive opportunity to export their knowledge — if not their product — to the U.S., said Brendan Kennedy, CEO of Privateer Holdings, which holds a portfolio of marijuana-related companies including Vancouver Island-based Tilray.

“Canadian firms are able to operate at a scale that doesn’t really exist in the United States, where no one is willing to invest that amount of capital,” he said.

“Canadian companies have expertise in business operations, in cultivation, in regulatory compliance and other intellectual property that is applicable in the U.S.,” Kennedy added. “So that’s a huge opportunity for Canadian firms.”

Tilray and others have been approached by U.S. companies for partnerships and licensing deals. Some, such as Toronto-based cannabis luxury brand Tokyo Smoke, already have licensing deals in U.S. states.

Still, the risky regulatory environment limits Canadian business opportunities in the U.S., which adds to the incentive to concentrate expansion efforts elsewhere, said Khurram Malik, head of research at Jacob Capital Management Inc.

“The only thing Canadian companies can do in the U.S. is send their know-how down and earn royalties — the whole franchise model,” he said. “If they start getting exposure to the U.S. market that could make some of their U.S. investors skittish.”

Investors have long preferred funding Canadian cannabis startups, drawn to the ability to invest in a completely legal system.

Donald Trump’s surprise victory Tuesday night has added another level of uncertainty for U.S. companies, as his stance on marijuana is unclear. The president-elect has said he supports medical marijuana and softened his stance on recreational use during the campaign, saying the issue should be left up to each state. However, he is also surrounded by tough-on-crime politicians and plans to appoint conservative Supreme Court judges.

“The prospect of Donald Trump as our next president concerns me deeply,” Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, wrote in a post-election press release. “His most likely appointees to senior law enforcement positions — Rudy Giuliani and Chris Christie — are no friends of marijuana reform, nor is his vice president.”

The Obama administration practiced non-interference, with the federal justice department issuing a notice in 2013 advising local authorities to take a hands-off approach except in dangerous situations. But if Trump were to reverse that position, it could further chill investment, which could lead to increased interest in Canadian companies.

California was among the states that voted to legalize marijuana on Tuesday and, at 39 million, it has a population comparable to Canada’s. California’s proposed recreational regulations — which some have called the “gold standard” of policies — appear similar to Canada’s in that it would require industry standards and a licensing system for sellers. It also plans to reinvest government profits into anti-drug programs.

Canada’s Liberal government announced last year that it plans to table legislation this spring that will make recreational marijuana use legal. The Canadian recreational market, expected to be operational by 2018, has been estimated to be worth as much as $10 billion.

Knowledge transfer can work both ways, Malik said, and Canada can learn to avoid the mistakes of recreational markets that came before it.

“From a regulatory standpoint I think California and Canada are looking at it to see who does what and how they move forward, because there are some pretty strong parallels,” Malik said.

Despite the increased number of states tipping toward legalization, Bruce Linton CEO of Smiths Falls, Ont.-based Canopy Growth isn’t convinced the U.S. is a good place to expand any time soon — at least as long as Trump is in the White House.

“Mr. Trump has been pretty clear there may be a medicinal platform he thinks is reasonable and practical, but there’s no chance he thinks recreational has any place in society,” Linton said. “So when you have a poor boundary between medical and recreational, it’s going to continue to be fractured and chaotic.”

Linton pointed to the healthy black market operating in Colorado, one of the first U.S. states to legalize recreational weed, where companies considered legitimate at the state level are still considered illegal at the federal level. While they have to pay federal taxes, they can’t claim tax breaks the way other companies can.

“That’s a pretty material disadvantage (compared to) the criminals who pay no taxes let alone 100 per cent tax rate,” he said.

The companies also cannot use legitimate auditors such as Deloitte because their businesses are technically illegal.

“Any publicly-traded company that wants to become active in America will find that they have a portion of their statements that can’t be reviewed by an auditor, which makes for a difficult time to become a reliable public reporter,” Linton said.

The riskiness of investing in the U.S. also compels Canadian companies to focus expansion efforts on countries where the drug is legal at the federal level, including Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Brazil and Australia, marijuana analyst Pearlstein said.

“You are already seeing Canadian licensed producers establishing partnerships elsewhere in the world to take advantage of progressive regulation in different countries that aren’t the U.S.”

Canopy, for one, is focusing its international expansion efforts in countries like Brazil and Germany, Linton said.

“Why not use that as the basis to create distinct offerings which become copyrighted ,trademarked or intellectual property in some fashion, all properly preserved?” he said.

“Then when America is ready, we can enter with strength rather than participate in the evolution of a frayed market.”

Financial Post

 

WTF, Canada supplied us with booze during the depression, now they want the nasty weed business too?

BTW, I can not imagine the shit grown on the tundra will match up with Acapulco Gold.

 

@tenguy Here I'll fill you in on the current state of affairs as to cross border shopping. Since the early 1980s thanks in large part to our dear friends from the Netherlands, Canadians have been on the cutting edge in grow operations. There are many areas in Canada where the climate is well suited to outdoor growing but with introduction of high intensity lighting and hydroponics it became a cottage industry here. Some estimates have been as high as 1 in 6 households in BC and pretty big numbers in Ontario as well. Growing potent Dutch strains that make Acapulco Gold seem like dirt weed. Crops from the major growing areas was usually shipped all over the country with no risk of exporting. Nowadays with an exchange rate of 75 cents US for a Canadian dollar, the risk of shipping cross border is too lucrative to pass up and they double down on profits by also accepting cocaine, heroin and handguns in payment. A certain US multi-national crime syndicate that swept across the nation is responsible for a large portion of this business. The sooner weed is legalized and knocks the bottom out of the market the sooner both countries will be. PS: Grandpa was a Rum runner

 

I had to laugh at tenguy's comment knowing full well that the US government has in the past (and still does) used the drug industry to fund black ops ...

They have flooded the American streets with drugs for years knowing full well that it is both lucrative and can be deflected back to organized crime from both Mexico and Columbia.

 

White collar and corporate crime ...

 

The shit hits the fan in Alberta politics ...

Sandra Jansen has crossed the floor from the Conserative's to the NDP due to distaste for party positions and her constituents are fucking choked since they voted for her as a protest against the ruling NDP in the first place.