Justin Trudeau makes Saskatoon stop

One of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s goal in legalizing marijuana is to get it off the black market, get it out of the hands of criminal organizations and make it harder for kids to access.

It was one of several topics Trudeau discussed in an exclusive interview with Global News on Wednesday.

“It’s easier for a school kid to buy a joint than it is for them to buy a bottle of beer,” Trudeau said.

“We know that criminal organizations, gun runners, street gangs, they are making billions of dollars a year off ofthe sale of marijuana and using it to fund other criminal activities.”

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Trudeau said distribution would be left with the provinces in the same way as alcohol.

“What we’re looking at, and we’ve talked extensively with all the provinces on how we’re going to move forward on this, is setting a national frame that controls and regulates marijuana.”

Another contentious topic Trudeau tackled was carbon pricing.

Premier Brad Wall is opposed to a national carbon tax and has threatened to take the federal government to court if one is imposed in Saskatchewan.

Trudeau pointed to carbon capture technology in the province as one solution that is working in reducing the carbon footprint and said companies will not be left at a disadvantage if they make changes to the way they do business.

“Consumers are now looking at the choices they make as being less bad for the environment, so it’s a way of encouraging behaviours we don’t want which is pollution of carbon.

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First Nations funding also came up during the discussion.

Trudeau admitted there is still a lot of work to do to close the gap to ensure indigenous students have the same education and opportunities as non-indigenous students.

But he said Ottawa can’t decide how that will look, which has been part of the problem for generations.

We’re working with indigenous communities to build up their capacities to make the right decisions for how to move forward, not just next week but over the long term,” Trudeau said.

“We’ve put aside and invested historic amounts of money, billions upon billions of dollars, to get this right because that’s what Canadians want.”