The SQDC (Societe quebecoise du cannabis) will be opening West Island’s first Cannabis store in Pointe-Claire next year. A lease was signed for a location on Sources Blvd., where the Bourbon Street West bar used to be and is scheduled to be open by March 31st 2020. The opening of the new location will bring the total number of SQDC stores in Montreal to five. All SQDC stores need to be at least 250 metres away from any from schools, CEGEPS, universities and daycare centres and they chose the location as it satisfies the legal requirements for the establishment and is easily accessible. The other stores open so far in the city include locations on l’Acadie Boulevard, Queen Mary Road, Saint-Hubert Street and Sainte-Catherine Street West.
Last year the SQDC was in contact with John Belvedere, the Mayor of Pointe-Claire, and they discussed the potential of a location in the municipality. Pointe-Claire met the zoning requirements and they felt there was a viable market. Belvedere has promised the city would watch the store carefully once it has opened. Pointe-Claire’s By-Law PC-2888, concerning the ‘Consumption of alcohol and cannabis in all public places in the city’ is quite clear; it is forbidden to consume cannabis (as with alcohol) on sidewalks, bicycle paths, pedestrian trails, parks and in all outdoor aquatic and sports facilities, including municipal buildings’. Penalties for a first offence range from $500 to $1,500 and from $1,000 to $3,000 for a repeat offence. The Pointe-Claire store will be set up like all the other locations and will be selling cannabis products in the form of dried flowers, grounded, pre-rolled, oils, capsules and an oral spray – with a maximum 30 grams allowed per transaction. You can refer to the city’s by-law in full at: https://www.pointe-claire.ca/content/uploads/2018/10/PC-2888-Consommation-dacool-et-cannabis-espaces-publics-EN.pdf
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