Maybe they would have had time if they ran legalization past our own Gov, before the US Gov? When the US threatens to slow down trade and individuals at border crossings and shit, that's not Cretien running out of time....that was him running scared!
Again...that is a BS argument.
The threat to slow down trade hurts them more than us, which is why they, in spite of their threats, never make good on the threat.
If the US slows trade down then their corps suffer unavailability of the natural resources they get from us. (Wood, water, nickel, copper, oil and on and on) That supply dispruption pisses off US corps and they lean heavy on Wash DC and... guess what? Wash DC caves to the corps. Everytime. Because $ are the real power.
On the flip side we sell those unsold resources to other markets for bigger $.
That happened with softwood lumber, beef, pork, and a few other things while free trade was being negotiated in the 80s and they tried that tactic to bully us.
So. Cretien snubbed the US for 10 years through his whole term. Why would he have caved at the very end of it?
AND... Now that the libs are back in offi e guess what is top of the agenda? Legalization.... go figure...