Here's how Ontario is managing five key issues in marijuana regulation and how Quebec may handle them.
Andy Riga,
On Sept. 8, Ontario became the first to outline its plans.
Quebec, which objects to Ottawa’s tight schedule, says pot will be one of the first orders of business during the National Assembly’s fall session, which begins Tuesday.
Here’s how Ontario is managing five key issues and how Quebec may handle them.
1. Legal age
The federal Cannabis Act, which is still being studied by a House of Commons committee, says only people who are at least 18 years old will be able to use, purchase and possess marijuana. However, provinces and territories can set their own minimum age.
Ontario
Ontario chose 19, the same minimum age as
for alcohol in the province. Ontario said it decided to exceed the
federal minimum in order to protect youth, but it ruled out raising it
further so as not to drive young people to the illegal market.
Quebec
Premier Philippe Couillard’s government
has not taken a public stand yet, but the opposition Coalition Avenir
Québec is pushing for the minimum age to be 21. In Quebec, you have to
18 to buy alcohol. However, experts note that marijuana use can affect
brain development, which continues until age 25. The Canadian Pediatric
Society says 18 should be the legal age for pot,
suggesting most development has already occurred by then and few begin
abusing marijuana at that age. The federation representing Quebec
medical specialists begs to differ. It wants the minimum to be 21,
noting that there is not enough support for young people over 18 who
abuse drugs.
Ottawa has left it up to provinces to license marijuana retail vendors and to decide whether private companies or the government will be in charge.
Ontario
A government-run body – the Liquor Control
Board of Ontario – will oversee retail sales through stand-alone pot
stores and an online service. Forty stores will open by July 2018.
Within two years, the number will swell to 150. Ontario said the LCBO
has the expertise to ensure careful control of cannabis.
Quebec
Couillard’s cabinet is reportedly divided
on the issue. Some ministers want to go the Ontario route and set up
stand-alone, government-run stores via the Société des alcools du
Québec, which has expertise in distribution and in complying with age restrictions. Other
ministers want private companies to sell pot because they would keep
prices in check, which in turn would help eradicate the black
market. Montreal’s public health department has advised the government not to use the SAQ as a model because it is under government pressure to increase profits.
Governments could collect as much as $5 billion in tax revenues from the sale of legal marijuana, according to a CIBC World Markets report. But Ottawa and the provinces have not worked out details yet.
Ontario
Specifics were not provided but Ontario
said tax revenues “will be reinvested to ensure we meet our priorities
of protecting young people, focusing on public health and community
safety, promoting prevention and harm reduction and eliminating the
illegal market.”
Quebec
Lucie Charlebois, Quebec’s public-health
minister, has said she doubts tax revenue will cover the cost of
legalization, namely increased spending in health care, security and
public education. The province has not hazarded a guess as to how much
could be collected in taxes. The opposition CAQ has said all tax revenue
should go to the provinces since they will assume “all additional costs
associated with legalization.” Ottawa has already nixed that idea.
Quebec’s federation of medical specialists wants the province to commit
to spending the first profits – at least $100 million a year – on
information campaigns about marijuana’s possible detrimental effects,
with young people as the main target.
Under Ottawa’s proposal, it’s up to provinces to decide where cannabis can be consumed, including whether it will be allowed in cafés and bars or at music festivals.
Ontario
Under Ontario’s plan, pot will only be
legally consumable in private residences. It will be banned in public
places, workplaces and inside cars.
Quebec
The province has not taken a public stand
on the issue. At public hearings this month, an entrepreneur compared
the pot café he wants to open to cigar and pipe lounges. He also
envisions pot-smoking tourists being escorted around Montreal in
limousines. Quebec’s public-health minister reminded him that Quebec no
longer gives out permits to smoking lounges, and that many are urging
the government to adopt limits at least as strict as those already in
effect for tobacco, which forbid smoking in many public places including
restaurants and some parks.
Ottawa wants to allow the cultivation of up to four cannabis plants per residence, each of which must not exceed one metre in height. However, provinces can set further limits on personal cultivation.
Ontario
The issue was conspicuously absent from Ontario’s announcement. A spokesperson
for Ontario’s attorney general said many questions remain unanswered
and the province will be closely monitoring the issue as Ottawa’s cannabis bill moves through the federal parliamentary process.
Quebec
Suggesting it will be difficult to enforce
Ottawa’s four-plant rule, Quebec Health Minister Gaétan Barrette has
indicated the province may ban home-grown pot. A four-plant limit would
be unenforceable and would be a drain on law-enforcement resources, a
union representing municipal police officers in Quebec says.
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