CHRETIEN BLASTS HIS MPS FOR MEDDLING WITH POT BILL

NORTH BAY, ONT. -- Prime Minister Jean Chretien took a whack at a
group of his own MPs yesterday, accusing them of asking the United
States to "intervene" to block their own government's plans to
decriminalize marijuana.

The MPs met with a senior U.S. drug policy official in July, and a
Canadian Foreign Affairs official present reported they suggested the
United States press its objection to the marijuana policy, tying it to
trade and border disputes.

Many of the MPs have insisted that their actions were innocent and
wrongly portrayed by the civil servant who took notes, and that the
memo may be an effort to smear them. Some of the MPs at the meeting
have been regular critics of the Prime Minister.

Mr. Chretien suggested yesterday that the MPs invited the United
States to intrude in Canadian policy. "I'm very surprised that they
would use that route. We in Canada, we're passing laws in Canada," he
said at a press conference in North Bay, where Liberal MPs and
senators are meeting.

"It's the responsibility of members to discuss and debate. And in this
case, we had a report from the Senate committee, a House of Commons
committee, it's been debated for years, and we made a proposition on
legislation."

The MPs defended themselves by saying the meeting was an effort to
hear the views of the U.S. government and little more.

Earlier this week, MP Brenda Chamberlain acknowledged in an interview
that she and others had asked the U.S. official, deputy drug czar
Barry Crane, to tell the PM and federal bureaucrats about his concern
that there could be difficulties at the Canada-U.S. border if the law
passed. When Dr. Crane told the MPs that he had already done so, Ms.
Chamberlain said MPs told him to repeat it, to underscore the concerns.

She also said the MPs were not attempting to get Dr. Crane to lean on
the Prime Minister and added that the meeting was not held at the
American Embassy, as originally reported, but at Parliament Hill's
West Block. She also said it was not a secret gathering.

The incident sparked a heated argument among MPs at a closed-door
meeting of the Liberals' Ontario caucus yesterday, sources in the
caucus said.

Toronto MP Charles Caccia blasted the group -- including MPs Dan
McTeague, Roger Gallaway and Judi Longfield -- suggesting they should
leave the party.

But some of the MPs, including Mr. McTeague and Ms. Longfield, took to
the microphone to defend their attendance at the meeting.

The bureaucrat, whose memo The Globe and Mail was allowed to see and
take notes from, said in the document that the MPs were "highly
critical" of the reform bill, and that the "apparent aim of the
members" was to solicit the help of U.S. officials to defeat it.