Quebec stands firm on plan to ban all homegrown pot

VIANARCHRIS

Well-Known Member
The Quebec government does not want anyone to grow marijuana plants at home, and it sent a clear message to the federal government Thursday that it is ready to fight to impose that ban.

Federal Bill C-45, the proposed law to legalize cannabis which is now before the Senate, would allow Canadians to grow up to four plants at home for their personal use.

Both Quebec and Manitoba, however, have taken a zero-tolerance position on homegrown weed.

The issue contains all the ingredients for a government showdown, with federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould declaring Wednesday "there are limits" to the restrictions that the provinces can impose on home cultivation of marijuana.

"Where there are other pieces of legislation or proposed pieces of legislation that would seek to frustrate the purposes [of the federal legislation], then there are concerns there," she said.

Ready to fight

Both the Quebec's minister responsible for relations with Canada, Jean-Marc Fournier, and Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois are vowing to defend the province's right to decide what's right for Quebecers.

"I will tell you that the majority of people, what they are asking of me is [to allow] zero plants at home," Charlebois said.

She said people have told her they are worried that if the province opens the door to homegrown cannabis, some will grow too much for their own consumption and then be tempted to sell it. They also worry teenagers might come across their parents' pot and sample it.

"They have said, at the beginning, please, be more restrictive," she said, adding that the ban could be re-evaluated after two or three years.

Jurisdiction is 'murky'

Fournier argues the federal government has the power to make it illegal to grow five plants or more at home — but it does not have the power to authorize Canadians to grow up to four plants.

He believes Quebec is well within its jurisdiction to impose a penalty.

However, Ottawa criminal defence lawyer Michael Spratt, who spoke before the parliamentary hearings on the federal legislation, says the division of powers on matters arising from the legalization of marijuana is "murky."

"The real debate is on what the purpose of the ban is," said Spratt. "Is it more of a criminal sanction?"

If Quebec were to treat growing any amount of marijuana at home as a crime, it would be stepping onto federal jurisdiction, he said. Only the federal government has control over the Criminal Code.

"Anyone caught contravening Quebec's proposed law about growing marijuana at home would be in an ideal place to challenge the constitutionality of that restriction," Spratt said.

Quebec's proposed legislation provides for fining anyone caught growing pot, although it hasn't said how big the fine would be.
 

CalyxCrusher

Well-Known Member
She said people have told her they are worried that if the province opens the door to homegrown cannabis, some will grow too much for their own consumption and then be tempted to sell it. They also worry teenagers might come across their parents' pot and sample it.
Two problems with this statement. If there are ZERO storage limits how does a person grow too much for their own consumption? Home made Wine and beer doesn't get this same criticism. Also, if teens want to try cannabis they ALREADY are. Do you leave your alcohol lying around for kids to drink? Pretty simple solution, do that little thing the call being responsible
 

VIANARCHRIS

Well-Known Member
Two problems with this statement. If there are ZERO storage limits how does a person grow too much for their own consumption? Home made Wine and beer doesn't get this same criticism. Also, if teens want to try cannabis they ALREADY are. Do you leave your alcohol lying around for kids to drink? Pretty simple solution, do that little thing the call being responsible
They can also legally share with friends. If that same friend happens to give you a few bucks to help with the power bill....
Responsible adults are permitted to have many dangerous items in their homes and most children survive. From kitchen knives, booze and bathtubs to guns, prescription drugs and the family car - all have killed kids - pot, not so much. there are much bigger dangers than a bag of weed.
 

VIANARCHRIS

Well-Known Member
If Ottawa can force BC to risk destroying our coast for the benefit of Alberta and China and claim federal jurisdiction, they sure as hell can force Quebec to allow home grows. Maybe Quebec will start another separation movement...there's one brewing in BC already.
 

mojoganjaman

Well-Known Member
If Ottawa can force BC to risk destroying our coast for the benefit of Alberta and China and claim federal jurisdiction, they sure as hell can force Quebec to allow home grows. Maybe Quebec will start another separation movement...there's one brewing in BC already.

The Republic of Cascadia???




mojo
 

gb123

Well-Known Member
Quebec threatens Ottawa with legal action over pot restrictions

The federal bill allows people to grow some marijuana plants at home, but Quebec says it has the right to ban home-growing in the province.
QUEBEC — The Couillard government says it’s ready to go to court to defend its constitutional right to ban people from growing marijuanain their homes.

At a hastily called news conference Thursday, Jean-Marc Fournier, Quebec’s minister of federal-provincial relations, called on Ottawa to respect Quebec’s jurisdictional power to decide whether it wants to allow people to grow pot plants at home.

Quebecers have clearly expressed the desire for the province to take a conservative approach in the way it applies Ottawa’s new law making recreational marijuana legal, said Quebec Public Health Minister Lucie Charlebois, who flanked Fournier at the news conference.

Fournier called on Ottawa to practice “co-operative federalism” and not federalism where Ottawa dictates its will over the provinces.

“Quebec’s position is clear,” Fournier said. “We are within our jurisdictional powers and we intend to apply them. If the federal government respects this fact, it can avoid sparking a legal challenge.

“We respect the fact that they’ve got jurisdiction in criminal law. They have to respect the fact we’ve got jurisdiction in civil law.”

Ottawa’s Bill C-45 — currently in the adoption process — stipulates citizens will be allowed to grow as many as four marijuana plants at home.

However, Quebec’s bill applying Ottawa’s plans does not allow home growing. Offenders could face fines.

Fournier’s statement was in response to what appears to have been a message to the province from federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould on Wednesday.

Wilson-Raybould warned there are “limits” on how many restrictions provincial legislatures can place on the number of marijuana plants Canadians can grow in their own homes.

“Bill C-45 is permissive in the sense where, if certain jurisdictions, by virtue of their own competence, want to make certain dispositions — including the number of plants — more restricted, they are free to do so,” the minister told reporters. “But that said, there are limits.”

Wilson-Raybould’s reminder that the legalization of marijuana and the framework allowing Canadians to grow cannabis in their homes fall within federal jurisdiction appears to be an indirect reference to a decision by the Quebec government to ban home cultivation.

When asked what she meant by “limits” to restrictions in other jurisdictions, Wilson-Raybould, while not mentioning Quebec directly, cited the “precedence” of the federal government’s power to legislate.

“I think I’ve been clear,” she said. “There are the dispositions of C-45, and other legislative measures that have been proposed or tabled aimed at counteracting those dispositions, and that’s where the concerns are.”

The federal government has said it intends to legalize marijuana in Canada by July 1, although that deadline has been called into question.

Fournier noted Quebec is not the only jurisdiction taking a different path in Canada — Manitoba, too, plans to ban home growth.

Charlebois said the consultation process Quebec held in the lead-up to the presentation of the provincial bill revealed what people think.

“Quebecers said, ‘be more restrictive at the start’ ” of the legalization process, Charlebois said.

“If we decide to be more permissive in the future, we can. But for the moment this is what Quebecers want.”
 

gwheels

Well-Known Member
Quebec and MB will both lose this fight. What hubris and greed they have. They want to control the market and will likely have the highest taxes and cost of cannabis in the country. Of course they do not want you to grow 4 plants they want to sell you 10 dollar a gram weed with as much added tax as they can muster.
Glad I live in Ontario.
The genius trust on a news site i read all think the gov will bow to their will because they need QC votes. Why would this change the voting one way or another. :)
It will be an interesting few months to be sure.
 

cannadan

Well-Known Member
I can see this as a good reason to pack up and move to a more reasonable part of the country.....reverse separation...

for me this is surprising for Quebec....the french people I know....love to party and are the most liberal(so to speak) of the bunch...
usually very forward thinking...and all about having fun....not the prohibitionist type of people....
The average Quebec person must be thinking ....why us....
 

bongmaster_m

Active Member
Nobody in quebec likes this. This is political games placed above the interest of the people, yet again. I think the liberals (plq) are betting (hoping) on people getting over it when the LP's they own stock in hit the market with their poison shwag. Madame Charlebois (qc's Minister of "please think of the children") used to sell bottled water in the country with the largest fresh water reserves on earth, she knows all about market control and regulating.
 

Farmer.J

Well-Known Member
If Ottawa can force BC to risk destroying our coast for the benefit of Alberta and China and claim federal jurisdiction, they sure as hell can force Quebec to allow home grows. Maybe Quebec will start another separation movement...there's one brewing in BC already.
Revenue Alberta (Saskatchewan, Manitoba and yes BC too) earn from shipping cannadian oil to China, will be dispersed to all of the provinces. Alberta pays equalization payments to the federal government and that money gets dispersed to all kinds of funding in other provinces. If the people in charge of the ports in BC run them responsibly they won't destroy the coast.
 
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