Couillard says Quebec must consider pot rules in Ontario
Premier Philippe Couillard says setting the age to buy legal marijuana at 21 may not be realistic given Quebec’s proximity to Ontario, which has set the age at 19.
And there are signs Quebec may be headed for a marijuana sales price of around $7 or $8 a gram in its stand-alone pot stores — again to stay close to the price Ontario is envisions, which is $10 a gram.
Both provinces are aiming to undercut the price organized crime charges.
On the same day Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne was making an official visit to Quebec — she became the first Canadian premier in history Thursday to address the National Assembly — Couillard had a debate with opposition Coalition Avenir Québec Leader François Legault, who argues the legal age should be 21.
Answering Legault, who said setting the age at 21 would be a clear signal that pot is dangerous for young brains and thus to be discouraged, Couillard asked Legault to think about the bigger picture.
“Does he seriously think he will prevent youths from 18 to 21 from smoking pot?” Couillard asked. “Get real. I think they are smoking already and will continue to smoke.
“What we want to do is prevent organized crime and the black market from profiting from the situation. He (Legault) has not thought this through.”
Couillard then said there are other considerations, including the fact Quebec and Ontario are neighbours and Ontario has set the legal age at 19.
“What will happen on the bridges over the Outaouais River Saturday night if the ages between the two provinces are very different?” Couillard asked. “I guess he (Legault) will go and police them to be sure young Ontarians don’t cross into Quebec.”
But Legault said as a doctor, Couillard should know about the effects of marijuana and play it safe with the legal age, to which Couillard said if Legault has a plan to stop youth from smoking, he should present it now.
The Parti Québécois earlier this week said it believes the legal age to buy marijuana should be 18.
But there are other signs Quebec’s plan will be similar when it comes to price, too.
“Yes, we want to protect public health and safety,” Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois told reporters later when asked to react to Ontario’s plan to charge about $10 a gram. But what we want to counter, to halt to the maximum, is the black market. So if our prices are not competitive with the black market, we will be in trouble.”
Ontario will try to sell legal pot for a price low enough to squash the black market.
The government plans to establish a price for recreational marijuana that isn’t too high in order to eliminate illicit sales, Finance Minister Charles Sousa says. Black-market marijuana sales currently range between $8 and $13 a gram across Canada, and Ontario is consulting other provinces across the country to determine “a unified price,” he said.
“It’s important for us to establish a price that’s not too high because we want to keep the illicit market under control and we want to eliminate that,” Sousa told reporters, according to his spokeswoman Jessica Martin.
“But at the same time we don’t want to price it too low that encourages greater use.”
Ontario was the first province to announce how it will regulate and distribute sales of marijuana when Canada moves to legalize recreational sales by next July.
The Liquor Control Board of Ontario will open as many as 150 government-run pot stores by 2020 and manage the sale and distribution of marijuana along with online sales.
“I think we all recognize it needs to be priced competitively with the current black market price,” said Neil Closner, chief executive officer of MedReleaf Corp.
The province has yet to clarify how much they are willing to pay for marijuana from licensed producers, Closner said. While the Markham, Ont.-based producer has a low cost of production at $1.50 a gram, others are “well north” of $2 and $3 a gram.
“I think many of us believe consolidation will happen. It’s a matter of when, not if,” he said. “There will be a day of reckoning that will come for many of them.”