Ian Jenkins, CEO of Utah-based Frelii, attended a $1,600-a-head fundraiser for the prime minister earlier this month. At the time, the firm said Trudeau prompted Jenkins to use its AI technology to test medical marijuana in the country and suggested an introduction to Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains. After being contacted by The Globe, both the firm and a spokesperson for Trudeau said the contact was just a cursory exchange. (Globe and Mail)

Talking point: Lots of cannabis companies, including home-grown success stories like Canopy Growth and Aurora Cannabis, want access to Trudeau, but are finding face-time with the Prime Minister hard to come by. There are 107 firms registered to lobby the Prime Minister’s Office about cannabis, but only five have actually lobbied and all of those communications were with policy advisors to Trudeau, not the prime minister himself. Lobbying the Prime Minister at fundraising events has been banned by Liberal party ethics rules the entire time Trudeau has been in power, but it regularly happens. In 2017, Trudeau was cleared in an investigation over a series of cash-for-access fundraisers at which certain attendees later received government support for billionaire deals on everything from canola exports to Chinese takeovers of seniors’ care companies.