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During 2021 and 2022, the Société Québécoise du Cannabis (SQDC) has launched a pilot project to deliver cannabis in 90 minutes in some regions of Quebec. According to the bureaucrats of the corporation, this is to "migrate consumers from the black market to the legal cannabis market." Really?
In which regions of Quebec, by the way? Because remember, there are 22 SQDC branches that have been on strike for over eight months. In his interview with North Star, SQDC employee Lucas Gizard said that "when you look at it all, it's the regions that are on strike where they're trying to insert this 90-minute delivery."
Can't say I'm shocked, to be honest. I mean, when you've got these annoying peasants in your way - you understand the sarcasm, I hope - what better way to deal with them than to just go around and ignore them? By using this delivery service, they manage to keep their customers, while making sure that the workers don't get their - reasonable - request for a $21 an hour wage.
This is, in a way, what one might call strikebreakers (or scabs) in disguise. Scabs are people that bosses hire to replace workers on strike, basically to kick them out and avoid meeting their demands. In Quebec, legislation was passed in 1977 to prevent this, after workers literally had to fight with their fists to make strikes work!
In the recent article "Determination Giving Hope for Victory," Lucas Gizard also said that we've "had the freedoms we've gained through struggle, through blood, through fire, chipped away over the last 20 years." That's what I'm talking about. The government doesn't even respect its own laws!
And it's not really like this 90-minute delivery works that well. Mr. Gizard explained that there have been many reported problems and delays. So, on the one hand, we don't give a better salary to workers who just want to feed their families with the extreme inflation they are getting thrown in the face, and on the other hand, we offer a deficient service that simply pushes people to the illegal economy.
This benefits the biggest profiteers of the illegal economy, organized crime, who probably take great pleasure in this opportunity. It benefits the big private monopolies, which are tacitly told by the government that it's okay to use scabs, that it's okay not to respect the workers who produce or sell. We can say thank you to Quebec's premier François Legault!