Article content continued

In an interview with the National Post, Souccar said nobody approached him about joining Aleafia until his work on the task force was fully completed, and that his first conversation about the company didn’t come until January 2017.

“The circle of people that know me know better than to have approached me while on the task force to get into this type of business,” he said. “I would have never entertained any discussions with anybody while on the task force.”

But he said he can understand why some might have concerns. “There is clearly a potential conflict that could have occurred. And I made sure to the extent that I believe is safe and ethical, I separated that,” he said.

Don Davies, an NDP MP who serves as vice-chair on the health committee that has been studying the marijuana legislation, said the task force did very good work — but the optics of one of its members now running a medical cannabis company shows the government may need to look at instituting a cooling-off period for people who consult on policy.

“I’m wondering if it’s not time that we look to Parliament to put those kinds of meaningful rules in place for those that serve on task forces on policy, because there are conflicts of interest, and then there is the appearance of conflicts of interest,” he said.

“I think this is a case where there is a clear appearance of conflict of interest, whether it’s there or not. And I think that the government would do well to examine it.”