Did Laureen Harper contradict Conservative party policy on pot? - Action News
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Did Laureen Harper contradict Conservative party policy on pot?

Power & Politics asks a panel of candidates whether the Conservative party leader's wife spoke off-message when she said that, while she doesn't support full legalization of marijuana, people shouldn't go to jail for pot.

Press Progress site spotlights video of leader's wife saying 'You don't put people in jail'

Laureen Harper sparks marijuana debate

9 years ago
Duration 9:53
Candidates Murray Rankin, Michelle Rempel and Bill Blair discuss their parties' policies on marijuana

Did Laureen Harper go off-message?

When the Press Progress website posted video of the Conservative leader's wife talking about marijuana at a small campaign event in Brampton, Ont. recently, eyebrows raised.

While she didn't come out in favour of full legalization, she did suggest people shouldn't go to jail for smoking pot.

That might appear to contradict the law-and-order,zero-tolerance,crackdown-on-drugs approach one associates with Conservatives.

After all, this is the party that hammered hard againstJustin Trudeau'smore liberal pot policy in the House of Commons,duringbyelection campaigns and, most recently, in radio attack ads.

Health Canada also kept running itspartisan-tingedanti-drug ad campaign right up until this election campaign launched.

Power & Politics convened a panel of candidates to unpack the various party positions on pot, and to consider whetherLaureen Harper strayed, or merely articulated a less-familiar aspect of theConservative position.