Police tobacco: convenience stores and grocery stores claim to be victims of the zeal of the investigators

QMI agency

Monday, 12 February 2018 17:41

UPDATE
Monday, 12 February 2018 17:47

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QUEBEC | c-stores and grocers in Quebec say they are victims of the “zeal” of the inspectors responsible for enforcing the tobacco act, which “have been subject to the rules of harassment to meet their quotas of tickets,” according to them.

• READ ALSO: Harassment and quotas of tickets: the air is unhealthy to the police of the tobacco

Our bureau of investigation revealed on Monday that investigators “the police of tobacco,” of the Montreal region have suffered for years from psychological pressure from their employer to issue enough tickets.

“We realized that the inspectors were to attack the smallest details of the store, in order to be guilty of a violation of the law, which was clearly an exaggeration on their part,” said Yves Servais, general manager of the merchants Association convenience stores and grocers in Quebec.

He also believes that, in some cases, the inspectors were “forced reality for the sole purpose to meet their quotas”.

“Our retailers do not have to undergo the pressures abusive of the directives of the police of the tobacco that require its investigators to achieve at any cost unrealistic goals”, he added.

No quotas

The minister responsible for the public health, Lucie Charlebois, was not available for comment on Monday. His cabinet, however, has refuted the existence of quotas for team inspections of the MSSS.

If the inspectors have objectives to meet, these objectives are related to the number of inspection visits to be carried out annually, and not on the number of tickets to be delivered, is there shown.

The cabinet of Ms. Charlebois has also clarified that the ministry acted “promptly, as soon as the situation has been brought to its attention”. “The employees affected by this situation have been met”, and clarified the office of the minister.

For its part, the Union of the public service and parastatal du Québec (SFPQ) has asked for the resignation of the director of investigations, Jean-François Therrien.

“Our collective agreement states that one has the right to a healthy work environment. We, that is the first thing that we request to the authorities of the ministry. But there is nothing that has changed in the past two years,” said Jean-François Sylvestre, a spokesman for the SFPQ for the region of Montreal.