Legalization of cannabis: Plant does not want to be forced to raise taxes

JOEL LEMAY/QMI AGENCY

Maxime Huard

Thursday, 15 February 2018 15:34

UPDATE
Thursday, 15 February 2018 15:38

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OTTAWA | landowners should not bear the costs of the legalization of cannabis, launched with the mayor of Montreal, on Thursday, in a message to the attention of the federal and provincial governments.

Still in the dark as to the share of the income of the cannabis they will be paid, the municipalities must be able to “give service and act responsibly without it to increase, for example, the taxes of the citizens,” said Valerie Plant, in a press conference in Ottawa.

The federal government announced last December that it will give the provinces a minimum of 75 % of the revenues of the excise tax on cannabis.

The municipalities of Quebec, calling for one-third of the revenue generated by the tax. However, the final terms of the shares with the cities still have to be established with the provincial.

“We wait, but we are confident,” said the mayor of Montreal, recalling that the cities are on the “front line” of legalization. According to a report commissioned by the City and filed in January, Montreal expects that the legalization of cannabis will cost him more than $ 9 million annually in security costs.

The mayor of Quebec city, to him, has no fear of having to raise property taxes because of the legalization of pot, which is scheduled for July. “It will not happen in Quebec city. It’s just that he’ll have to cut elsewhere, said Régis Labeaume. But honestly, I’m not very worried.”

The approach of the provincial elections, it seems “impossible”, according to Mr. Labeaume, Quebec city does not comply to the requests of the municipalities.

The caucus of mayors of the large cities of the Federation of canadian municipalities participated Thursday in a series of meetings pre-budget with the federal ministers. They met in the morning the ministers of Finance, Bill Morneau, and Infrastructure, Amarjeet Sohi.

They were to meet in the late afternoon with the ministers of Health, Ginette Petitpas Taylor, as well as the minister of the Family, Jean-Yves Duclos.

The next federal budget will be tabled on 27 February.