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Photo by JONATHAN HAYWARD / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES

“One has to think that plays a role in this,” said Polak. “I suspect there’s something else in play too, and that is when you look at some issues and their caucus, I think they’re having some difficulty coming to agreement, too, within their own caucus. I think that’s likely stalled them.

“I know when you are in government, you can really slow down legislation when you can’t bring your caucus together on an issue. We’re seeing that on Kinder Morgan.”

Not so, said NDP house leader Mike Farnworth, who pointed to delays in drafting as the culprit.

“One of the challenges, particular on the cannabis bill for example, the drafting is a key part of that,” said Farnworth. “Especially since a lot of the regulations that are the responsibility of the federal level, we are only just finding out what they are.”

“That’s one of the reasons (federal) legalization is not going to be taking place at the beginning of July. Everyone is acknowledging it is going to be taking place later than that. The latest we’ve heard from the federal government is late summer. All of those things impact on our ability to do what is an important and very complex piece of legislation.”

B.C.’s legislation on marijuana will set in law a purchase age of 19, a licensing system and a distribution model of stand-alone stores operated by the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch. The government has previously said the marijuana bill will require complex changes to more than a dozen existing laws.