Announced in 2020, the expansion of the deposit on all ready-to-drink containers will not be carried out until 2027 in Quebec, at best, after ane postponement. The sad observation: practically no large-scale operation succeeds in Quebec. And it’s depressing.
“Remember Minister Mulcair or Minister David Heurtel who wanted to broaden the instructions, but who were told no by the Liberal government: “You are not going to touch that because we have people who are against it in certain businesses. We had the courage to do it.” declared François Legault on April 28, 2021.
This statement has not aged well.
To be able to recover wine bottles and multi-layer milk or juice cartons, the deadline was set for November 2022, then pushed back to 2023.
Then in March 2025.
And the responsible minister, who has been in charge of the Environment for almost six years, has just announced that this progress is no longer expected before March 2027.
We’ve been talking about it for over 10 years.
In Ontario, the deposit on wine and spirits bottles has existed for 17 years.
Who is responsible for bringing the reform to Quebec?
The Quebec Association for the Recovery of Beverage Containers.
We find on its board of directors producers of juices, bottles of water and milk, therefore, those who opposed the principle of the extended deposit.
No wonder it doesn’t work.
The government should have put in place mechanisms to ensure that they set up the bins and the container drop-off sites within the planned deadlines.
As if he was surprised that there was sand in the mix, Minister Charette announced an administrative investigation into this organization.
Perhaps, too, he is happy to postpone until after the 2026 election the inevitable increase in costs on the grocery basket caused by the extended deposit.
Computer inability
There are so many examples.
In 2020, Minister Éric Caire promised the full deployment of the digital identity application to allow transactions with the entire government to be carried out on their phone.
So far it comes down to SAAQclic and the Government Authentication Service issues.
To give you an idea of Quebec modernism, I had to go to an SAAQ office to recreate a digital account after my email address was hacked.
Even though I had all the papers to authenticate my identity, the officials were left empty-handed.
They were incapable of it.
The list is long
Has the Quebec government succeeded in computerizing judicial data for police officers, correctional centers and courthouses? No.
Was he able to create a one-stop shop for daycare space allocation as promised? No not yet.
Have we gotten rid of faxes in the health network in 2023, as the government committed to? No not at all.
Has the groundbreaking for a third link between Quebec and Lévis taken place?
No, except in the psyche of Eric Caire.
It is to such an extent that, in times of pandemic, we were surprised by the success of Clic Santé, a private Quebec company, having made it possible to make vaccination appointments online.
As if it was a mistake along the way.
Maybe Simon Jolin-Barrette should reconsider his plans.
Putting an end to the time change in Quebec is probably too complicated…
