Gatineau to match province's pot restrictions

Gatineau city councillorsvoted Thursday to approve a recommendation by the city's public health committee to match the province's rules overseeing the sale, growth, possession and consumption oflegal pot.

That means once recreational cannabis becomes legal in Canada on Oct. 17, pot smokers in Gatineau won't be allowed to light up inpublic spaces where minors might be present includingbeaches, sports fields andplaygrounds.

Under Quebec's Bill 157, marijuana use is only permitted in thesame places as tobacco, and is prohibited on university and CEGEP campuses.

Quebec has given municipalities the powerto impose tighter restrictions on smoking marijuana in public.

Gatineau'spublic health committee studiedthe possibilityof extending the potban to all city parks, and a third scenario that would ban consumption in all public spaces, period.

But staff cautioned councillors that third option would force the city to toughen its tobacco bylaws to match, or risk lawsuits for treating the two differently.

In the end, councillorsvoted against imposingany additional restrictions beyond those contained in Bill 157.

Gatineau pot users will have slightly different rules than their Ottawa neighbours

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The president of the municipal health commission, Rene Amyot, said members couldn't come to a consensus on whether Gatineau's pot regulations should match Ottawa's, given the city's position on the provincial border.

They also agreed tomonitor the situation for one year and consider changesin the fall of 2019.

Gatineau Mayor Maxime Pedneaud-Jobin said there are concerns about what legal pot will look like and the city will need to be responsive once it rolls out.

"We don't have enough facts to be able to predict what will happen," Pedneaud-Jobin said. "But we know what we control and we control our rules and regulations and they can be changed quite quickly. So if we see any phenomenonthat is not welcome we can change our regulations very quickly."

The final vote will take place at the next council meeting on July 3.