The Trudeau government is willing to give provinces and territories a bigger share of the revenue from a federal excise tax on cannabis, provided that the extra money is devoted to helping municipalities cope with the impact of legalizing recreational pot. The feds have proposed giving provincial and territorial governments half of the estimated $1-billion annual excise tax take once weed becomes legal next July. Any increase in the provincial share will obviously mean less for federal coffers. Final price tag will vary by provinceA one-month public consultation period on the excise tax proposal closes on Dec. 7, just ahead of the finance ministers' meeting. Premiers have been complaining since early October, when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first unveiled the excise tax plan, that a 50-50 revenue split with Ottawa is not good enough.

Source: CBC News December 04, 2017 13:30 UTC