WINNIPEG -- Manitoba's Progressive Conservative government says it will plow ahead with plans to ban home-grown marijuana, regardless of what the federal government decides.
Justice Minister Heather Stefanson says the authority to regulate home cultivation falls under provincial jurisdiction and Manitoba will defend that right if need be.
A bill now before Parliament would allow people to grow up to four plants in their homes once recreational use of cannabis is legalized later this year.
The Senate recently amended the bill to specify that provinces can ban home-grown pot, but the federal government has rejected that amendment along with a dozen or so other proposed changes.
Manitoba and Quebec have made it clear they want to restrict home-grown marijuana.
With the bill now heading back to the House of Commons, Stefanson says Manitoba has no intention of letting the federal government set the rules.
"We're confident in our legal position on this and we will defend that legal position if necessary," Stefanson said Wednesday.
"We want to keep it out of the hands of children ... we've also heard from the police, too, in terms of being able to police this as well. How do you go into a home and someone has six plants, you know?"
