Conservatives push mandatory prison sentences for drug crimes — even for growing as little as one marijuana plant. Canada’s justice minister says people who sell or grow marijuana belong in jail because pot is used as a “currency” to bring harder drugs into the country.

It may not have been a large crowd but the New Democratic Party revitalization conference held at the Elks Lodge in Grande Prairie Saturday was more about the quality of discussion, said Vancouver MP and keynote speaker Libby Davies. She called it building a base to work from. “The process that we are involved in today comes out of the results of the last election,” said Brian Mason, Alberta NDP leader and also a guest at the conference.