Quebec’s cannabis law ‘not perfect’
Creates strict Controls over Buying, growing And Consuming Marijuana
QUEBEC The province now has legislation governing the use of recreational cannabis even if Ottawa’s plan has yet to be made law.
Seven months in the works, MNAs on Tuesday gave final approval to Bill 157, a law making cannabis a government-owned and operated business with strict controls over who can buy it and where it can be consumed.
Despite Quebec’s image as a very open society, the law is among the most conservative in the country and does not allow for homegrown product. The bill sailed through in the morning. The vote was 61 for and 46 against.
As announced, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) opposed the law — mainly because it believes the legal age to possess and consume should be 21 and not 18 as the law states.
The CAQ has pledged to reopen the bill to increase the consumption age should it form a government Oct. 1.
The two Québec solidaire MNAs, Amir Khadir and Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, voted with the government.
But in a last-minute about-face, the Parti Québécois voted against, leaving the minister responsible for the bill, Lucie Charlebois, sputtering with anger.
“They made nice speeches last night (in the house) and today they completely change their mind,” Charlebois, the minister for rehabilitation, youth protection and public health, told reporters.
“I deplore that people are playing petty politics with a bill affecting public health, especially that of our youth.”
PQ Leader Jean-François Lisée defended the about-face, which contradicted the signals given the government by the PQ’s point person on the committee examining the bill, Labelle MNA Sylvain Pagé.
Lisée told reporters the PQ opposed because the party does not want pot to be consumed in the public space. And saying it’s a question of sovereignty, the PQ wants Quebec, not Ottawa, to regulate the official growing operations.
Lisée also said he is “very concerned” about potential links between the owners of cannabis production companies and shady offshore tax havens.
In the end, the Liberals used their majority and got the two QS votes, which ensured the bill made it into the books before the legislature recesses Friday and Quebec is plunged into an election campaign this summer.
At a news conference after the vote, a relieved Charlebois said that, by having the bill passed now, Quebec will be ready when Ottawa finishes its own legislative process and adopts Bill C-45 sometime over the summer. Until then, nothing changes in Quebec.
“Yes, we’re ready,” Charlebois said. “We are ready to move into action.”
Bill C-45 has passed a vote in the Commons and was sent to the Senate, which in turn passed it back to the Commons with amendments last week. MPs now have to decide what to do about the almost four dozen Senate amendments.
Quebec’s adoption process has been equally laborious. By the time the bill was voted on Tuesday, there had been 138 amendments to a bill with 197 articles.
Many of the amendments were small, but they followed hearings where the government concluded Quebecers fancied a cautious path over total liberalization.
In fact, the amendments further restrict places where someone can consume cannabis and gives cities the power to go further if they desire. Landlords can include nosmoking clauses in leases.
The Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec had a clause inserted in the bill stating workers are not allowed to work intoxicated because of the risks to themselves and others.
Quebec sticks to its guns on not allowing citizens to grow their own plants at home. The federal law would allow Canadians to grow as many as four plants.
Asked about a possible legal challenge to Bill 157 by Ottawa, Charlebois “implored” Ottawa to respect Quebec’s jurisdiction in the matter but said Quebec is ready to fight for its freedoms in the courts.
“Maybe in three years we will say one or two plants,” Charlebois said. “I don’t know. But for a start, people asked us to be more restrictive.”
She refuted the possibility that cannabis sales will become a cash cow. Off the top, $25 million in revenues over five years is destined for a prevention and education fund to encourage youth to stay away from the substance, which the minister, who has eight grandchildren, herself does not approve of.
Charlebois, who has complained Quebec was forced into the pot business by Ottawa, has referred to the legislation as a first go and the government will monitor how the province — from youth to organized crime — reacts. Charlebois recently announced the entire bill will be reviewed in three years.
“The bill is probably not perfect,” she told the house Monday evening. “We don’t have any illusions of knowing what legalization will mean down the line. “None of us has a crystal ball.” A large chunk of the bill is devoted to creating the Société québécoise du cannabis, or SQDC, which will manage the purchase and sales of pot in outlets across the province.
About 20 will be ready to open when Ottawa’s bill is adopted. Online sales will also be allowed. The maximum a person can purchase at a time is 30 grams. A person is not allowed to have more than 150 grams in their home at a time.