December 30, 2009- Bill C-15, along with all pending legislation, is halted as the government announces Parliament will be "prorogued" until March 3, 2010. 

'Proroguing' parliament is where the Prime Minister asks the Governor General to end the current session of Parliament.  In effect, this immediately stops any pending legislation or committees in progress at both the House of Commons and the Senate.  March 3 is the date Parliament is set to resume. 

Bill C-15 is officially dead!  But the Conservative government's plan to introduce mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes is not.

December 10, 2009 - The Senate voted in favour of approving the amended Bill C-15 and is sending it back to the House of Commons for final approval.  Once the House resumes in 2010, they will vote on whether to accept the bill and send it along to royal assent, or to send it back to the Senate for another review.  One factor at play is that in 2010 the majority of the Senate will be Conservative members, as opposed to the current Liberal majority. Click here for more information on the Senate's amendments. 

Contact your Member of Parliament and tell them drug policy is an issue on your mind, tell them you want a sensible drug policy for Canada, tell them you want to end the criminalization of drug users and that you support engaging a public-health based model for our country. Click here for information on how to contact your Member of Parliament

Craig Jones, executive director of the John Howard Society, recently wrote a letter to the federal health minister as well as several public and population health leaders asking if anyone was preparing costs for the potential downstream impacts of the federal governments current 'tough on crime' agenda, including Bill C-15.