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WINNIPEG — Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister is not happy with the federal government’s plan to tax marijuana when it becomes legal next July.

Pallister says any tax increase threatens to drive up the price of legal cannabis and ensure the illicit market continues to thrive.

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Pallister also says the federal plan to split the tax evenly with the provinces isn’t fair, because the provinces will bear most of the cost, including increased policing and education campaigns.

The federal government is proposing an excise tax of $1 per gram of marijuana or 10 per cent of the final retail price, whichever is higher.

Liberal MP Bill Blair, a former Toronto police chief and the government’s point man on legalizing marijuana, estimates the tax would generate about $1 billion a year.

Pallister says anyone who thinks legal pot is a pot of gold for the provinces is wrong.