OTTAWA (Staff) – Given a choice last weekend between making a statement on government Canadian Wheat Board policy or on the benefits of legalizing production of industrial hemp, the Liberal party elected to deal with hemp.
But during their biennial policy convention, Liberal delegates in a policy workshop did endorse a policy of support for the board “unless a significant majority of farmers call for its dissolution.”
And the resolution which originated in the Dauphin area of Manitoba called for “the full prosecution of any person contravening the provisions of the Canadian Wheat Board Act.”
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Each workshop could send one resolution to the general convention floor for broader approval but the wheat board policy did not make it.
Instead, in a move one MP said was designed to limit the possibility of unscripted anti-wheat board comments from the floor of the convention, the majority voted to make legalization of industrial hemp a priority.
It was approved by bemused delegates, on the urging of southwest Ontario speakers, as a potential alternate crop for farmers.
It is illegal to grow hemp in Canada because the stronger version of the plant is the drug marijuana.
Hemp containing one percent or less of the active ingredient THC has no narcotic effects and can be used as a paper substitute and a source of industrial fibre, said delegate Mark Kellor from the Windsor area.
“If you smoked it all day, you’d get little more than a headache and a sore throat,” he told the convention.
Removed from list
The proposal that industrial hemp be taken off the controlled substances list was approved overwhelmingly.
“We opted today to legalize smoking a rope,” said a Montreal delegate.
Agriculture minister Ralph Goodale told reporters he supported any opportunity for agricultural diversification, as long as it is safe.
In other agriculture-related resolutions to be considered by the Liberal election platform committee, delegates at workshops agreed the government should:
- Promote the importance of agriculture through education and diversification policies.
- Place a “high priority” on research spending.
- Back away from suggestions that sale of raw milk cheese be banned for health reasons.
- Indicate the country of origin on any imported food.
- Ban sale of the dairy growth hormone bovine somatotropin until its safety, potential economic impacts and necessity are determined.
