Despite Liberal leader, premiers and a mayor admitting to smoking marijuana in past, many areas of politicians’ personal lives still considered off limits. Canadians are learning a little more about the drug habits of their politicians, thanks to a spate of recent admissions on past marijuana use. But that doesn’t mean other aspects of their elected officials’ personal lives are fair game in the political arena, experts say.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said in an interview last week that he smoked marijuana about three years ago — after he had been elected as an MP — and that he had used marijuana a handful of times in his life.
Trudeau’s statement set off a cascade of similar admissions as reporters put the same question to other elected politicians. Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter said yesterday that he “would have tried it” while he was at university in the 1970s. Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto Mayor Rob Ford both said this week they had smoked marijuana in the past. All four politicians made headlines for their remarks.
Parliament Hill has had its share of sex scandals, dating back to at least the Diefenbaker government in the 1950s, when a German prostitute and suspected Soviet spy named Gerda Munsinger had affairs with several cabinet ministers.
Ian Munroe – CBC News – Aug 30, 2013.
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