The federal Liberals say new legislation streamlining the pardons process for people convicted of simple cannabis possession will eliminate some of the “lingering consequences” of decades of prohibition.

The House of Commons on Monday kicked off second reading debate of Bill C-93, tabled by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale last month. If passed, the bill would waive any fees and the mandatory six-month waiting period for pardon applicants who have only been convicted of simple possession.

Liberal MP Karen McCrimmon, parliamentary secretary to the public safety minister, said during debate that the Trudeau government ruled out “automatically and proactively” clearing records for pot possession convictions because it was not practical.

Since there has never been a charge of pot possession in Canada, she said it would take an excessive amount of time to probe all records of people convicted of certain drug possession charges to determine whether they were busted for cannabis.

Also, there is no consistency in the maintenance of these criminal records, rendering it even more difficult to root out who has been convicted of simple pot possession, according to McCrimmon.

“We’ve put forward a bill to help people criminalized by the previous system turn the page,” she said, noting that the people affected by the prohibition of cannabis come “disproportionately from minority communities.”

However, NDP MP Jenny Kwan said the “fair process” to eliminate the burden of the decades-old prohibition on Indigenous and racialized people would be to expunge the records of everyone convicted of simple possession. This way, she said, there would be no risk that certain individuals would be excluded from the expedited pardon process.

McCrimmon maintained that the new process would be cheaper and faster than expungement, and the federal government is planning to actively promote this opportunity to historically affected communities.

Expungement, she noted, is only used for laws that were unconstitutional and was used for the first time last year by the Trudeau government to eliminate historic convictions for consensual sex between same-sex partners.

The pot prohibition was “bad public policy, but it didn’t violate the Charter,” McCrimmon said, though the disproportionate effect on minority groups prompted this action from the government.

“(Those convicted) should be able to shed their criminal record and the associated stigma … as soon as possible,” she argued.

McCrimmon also noted that expunging records would make it more difficult for those with possession charges when they are crossing the border.

Should they face any issue with U.S. border authorities because of their record, under expungement, they would be unable to seek much assistance because their records would have been erased, she said. But if they received a pardon, they could consult the Parole Board of Canada and discuss what they need to do, according to McCrimmon.

Conservative MP Pierre Paul-Hus didn’t completely dismiss the bill but said pardon applicants should have to pay some fee to cover the administrative costs, instead of leaving it entirely to taxpayers to foot the bill. He also called for the bill to be referred to committee to ensure there was no vague language.

McCrimmon argued the cost of a pardon application — $631 — was unfairly prohibitive.