Quebec wants your cannabis papers

“Your papers, please”, at the Société québécoise du Cannabis.

That is, the SQDC. Quebec’s only cannabis retailer. Owned and operated by the province. Now you need vaccination certificates.

So put your QR code in the queue.

Why not use this thing everywhere? Wipe, wipe, wipe. Like a digital wallet. An identity card, medical passport and debit card. All in one. Maybe even a reputation rating. Like China’s social credit system.

Buy cannabis.

This is how Quebec starts into the year 2022. Along with new restrictions such as the reintroduction of the curfew. Because everyone knows that Covid comes out after dark. And everyone knows that the only way to safely buy cannabis is to …

Show me your papers

No no no. Do not you see? These VAX passes are all about public health and safety. Like the legalization of cannabis. Forget your individual rights. We have to think about the children.

And forget about the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 2a guarantees freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Section 6 guarantees freedom of movement within Canada. Section 15 says we have equal protection under the law.

You’d think this would be enough to prevent a domestic passport from ever being issued.

But think again.

The charter is a reactionary document.

Consider the opening paragraphs: The Charter “guarantees the rights and freedoms set forth in it, subject to the reasonable limits imposed by law that can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society”.

In the tradition of English common law, Canadians are born with inalienable rights. Thanks to the Trudeau Family Coup, Canadians are now deprived of these lazy rights. The state now grants and guarantees our rights. The state can limit or withdraw these rights, depending on what the state deems “appropriate”.

If you give the state extraordinary emergency powers, it will declare all situations a state of emergency.

So in Quebec, get the papers to buy your cannabis. That is “following science” and criticism is forbidden.

What about the dishes?

What about the dishes?

Be aware of Canadian medical cannabis regulations. For over a decade, patients have been able to grow their own medicine. But Stephen Harper’s elected government tried to end that freedom.

Patients sued and the government lost. Judge Phelan ruled in favor of the patients because of his understanding of the rule of law.

But that doesn’t always happen. Look at the number of restaurant owners who defied and continue to defy “public health”. In either case, the judge has validated the government exceedance as we are in a pandemic.

Part of the problem is the charter. While it’s great that patients can grow their own medicine, the logic is absurd. People should be able to grow their own cannabis regardless of their state of health. When they are on their own private property, it is not a matter of the state.

Instead, patients have the right to grow their own based on the “reasonable access clause” from a previous decision. If you are licensed to use medical cannabis, the state must give you reasonable access. Not having them grown yourself is against this rule.

What is “appropriate”?

It has very little to do with your freedom as an autonomous individual.

Pierre Elliot Trudeau appointed justices to the Supreme Court to interpret his charter so. In 1986 the court in R. v. Oakes uses the so-called Oakes test.

The Oakes test determines which charter restrictions are “appropriate”.

Common law rights would oppose vaccination certificates. The charter allows it.

Cannabis was illegal under the charter. And it’s been adopted by corporate producers and state-owned retailers. Under the charter.
The Oakes test could (and has) restricted Canadians’ freedom of speech in the name of social justice.

Our freedom of travel and exit is restricted in the name of COVID-19.

Quebecers cannot buy cannabis without a third shot and papers to prove it.

All are allowed under the Charter.

What exactly is the charter?

Read the historical debates and discussions surrounding the Canadian Confederation. They talked about political minorities. How would they be protected from the tyranny of the majority?

The Charter turns this question on its head.

Judges and politicians now speak of “collective rights” as if large groups needed protection.

The real question is … what is the difference between legal and legal.

For example, it may be legal for Australia to send its unvaccinated people to detention centers. It may be legal for the Canadian government to force the risky COVID vaccine on the population.

But is it lawful? When Fidel Castro took power and killed his political opponents, it was legal. But was it lawful?

In Quebec, you must show your papers before you can buy cannabis. It’s legal, but is it legal?

sources

• Janet Ajzenstat et al., Eds., Canada’s Founding Debates (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2003)