EXCLUSIVE: In The City Of Longueuil, The Tobacco Police Is A Real Police!

On March 26, one month ago, a man entered the premises of a Provi-Soir depanneur located on Soucy Street in Longueuil.

Advancing towards the cashier, he flashed a badge to the clerk: no, this guy was just not anybody, but a genuine police officer from the City of Longueuil!

“Greetings Officer, what can I do for you?”

Then began a full interrogation about the suspected in-store presence of specific prohibited brands of alcoholic beverages recalled by the RACJ (Quebec Liquor Board), namely Mojo, Four Loko, Seagrams, etc.

That is quite unheard of indeed: we have seldom seen in Quebec, if ever, the police itself doing such inspections! What’s going on?

Fortunately for the retailer, all these products had already been removed following the recall made by bottler Cidrerie Solar in December 2017.

Not satisfied, the officer then turned his attention to whether there is some FCKD UP malt beverages still in the store.

The store owner, Jassi Jagdish, had also fortunately removed all of these following the tragic death of teenager Athéna Gervais in Laval a month earlier.

However, it is hard to understand why this policeman got interested in this brand since it was then perfectly legal for sale and remain so until the new proposed legislation to ban them has been sanctioned (only the products bottled by Cidrerie Solar were targeted by the recall, while FCKD UP was bottled by Geloso).

Finally, after his alcohol inspection completed without any violation found, the policeman switched to another product category, tobacco.

The officer then verified the presence of mandatory signs and stressed, when leaving the premises, that a “no smoking” sign was missing from the front door, but did not seem to make too much fuss about it.

Finally, two weeks later, the store owner received a $ 684 contravention for violation of the Tobacco Act!

The Longueuil police has nothing better to do

After verification, the Longueuil police did indeed take charge of enforcing of the tobacco Act on its territory, in place of the usual inspectors from the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MSSS).

In a release issued on May 12, we learn that:

The Longueuil Agglomeration Police Service (SPAL) is warning the public that, effective June 1, it will enforce the Tobacco Control Act throughout its territory. SPAL police officers will have the mandate to enforce the law and intervene with those who do not comply with the regulations. Offenders could then receive contraventions and have to pay fines.

However, two separate and credible sources confirmed to DepQuébec that the agreement allowing the Longueuil Police Department to enforce the Tobacco Act had been concluded prior to 2015, before the Tobacco Act was amended, so that it must be renewed under the new Act according to the usual practices otherwise or it won’t be valid.

Could this be ground for dismissing the offense in the eyes of the courts? The future will tell.

But besides these legalities, don’t they have better things to do than enforcing the tobacco Act in depanneurs?

Is it not a bit expensive for Longueuil taxpayers to use their highly trained police officers in the fight against crime and violence to simply enforce tobacco regulations?

Unless this is seen as a revenue opportunity? … at $ 684 a piece, it seems rather rewarding!