The Plante administration has weighed in on whether or not Montrealers will be able to smoke pot in public when it becomes legal across Canada in two weeks.
And its answer is yes — the the opposition at City Hall doesn't much like that.
"The leadership of this administration has been lacking," says Pierrefonds-Roxboro mayor Jim Beis, a member of the opposition Ensemble Montreal party. "In my community, and in the others, there is great concern over the use of cannabis in public spaces."
Pierrefonds-Roxboro will be among five boroughs controlled by Ensemble Montreal which plan to adopt bylaw amendments banning the use of cannabis in public spaces. St. Laurent, St. Leonard, Montreal North and Riviere-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles are the others.
Executive committee member Rosannie Filato took exception to the opposition's notion that the city isn't ready to deal with the coming of legal cannabis.
"It's very difficult for us as an administration to hear the opposition coming out today saying that we are not ready considering we have maintained the same position from the very beginning," she said. "We were ready when it we were told that [legalization was going to happen] on the 1st of July, we were ready when it was prolonged to the 17th of October, and we're going to continue to have discussions with our committee of experts."
Several other Quebec cities and towns, including Quebec City, Lévis, St. Jerome and St. Jean, have banned public pot consumption.