The federal Liberals have promised to legalize marijuana. But there are still a lot of questions about what exactly that means in practice – particularly since a discussion paper this summer suggested marijuana would legalized but not decriminalized.

The topic of judicial discipline had a high-profile target this fall in Robin Camp. But back at the end of June when the government released its consultation on the issue, it was asking questions much more low-profile – if not less important – areas of process.

“Innovation is a Canadian value,” Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada says in an online consultation on the federal government’s innovation agenda asking for input from stakeholders.

The CBA’s Immigration Law Section looked to the past to answer questions about the future of Canada’s immigration policy, with its responses to an online consultation carried out by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada this summer.

After a round-table discussion held with the Immigration Department earlier this year, the CBA’s Immigration Law Section provided a written response to follow-up questions. The Section sees some bright spots in the Department’s current treatment of asylum seekers, but also areas where things could be improved – primarily by ditching the Designated Country of Origin policy.

Summer in Ottawa is consultation season – while MPs are off on the barbecue circuit in their constituencies, their departments are busy seeking stakeholder opinions on draft legislation, regulation and policies, getting everything ready for when Parliament resumes sitting in the fall. Here are some of the other submissions we’ve made this summer.

Things aren’t always straightforward when charities and non-profit agencies get into the housing business. The government has clarified things somewhat with its Guidance CG-022, but the CBA’s Charities and Not-for-Profit Law Section offers up some guidance to make the Guidance even more useful.

The CBA’s Intellectual Property Law Section took the opportunity in August to comment on a federal consultation paper on establishing a governance framework for patent and trade-mark (IP) agents. This followed on their June submission on a proposed code of conduct for IP agents.

People have a right to their privacy, but business has a right to do business – and when that business involves peoples’ private information, we run into trouble. The Privacy and Access Law Section and the CCCA tell the Privacy Commissioner that Canada’s current consent model strikes the correct balance between the two sometimes conflicting sides.

In May the federal government moved one step closer to creating a national securities regulator by opening up consultations on a revised Capital Markets Stability Act (Canada) – revisions based on previous consultations on the 2014 draft.