London Drugs says deliveries to Quebec are ‘prohibited’ for B.C. customers

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It was to be a fun Christmas present sent by mail to his 95-year-old mother in Montreal. It’s a jigsaw puzzle made with adorable photos of her two great-grandchildren.

But it was a little confusing for a British Columbia man to learn that London Drugs won’t ship to Quebec.

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Eric Brown of Vancouver wanted to send his mother a photo album he created using London Drugs’ PhotoLab. He placed an online order, and when his delivery address menu opened, it listed every province and territory except Quebec.

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“I know this isn’t big news compared to what’s going on in the world, but I really just want to know why they’re not shipping to Quebec,” he said.

“I went through all the processes on the website, created everything, went through the purchase point, but when I got to the shipping point and Quebec wasn’t there, I said, ‘There’s a bug in the system. I thought, ‘Is that so?’

He said he called London Drugs about the issue but was told only that it was a “business decision.”

He sent an email to the company and received a short reply from the customer care center with the same content.

“Unfortunately, a business decision has been made not to ship to Quebec at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience,” Brown shared with Postmedia in a November statement from London Drugs. The email dated the 24th said:

I asked why they would make such a business decision, but they did not respond.

“That doesn’t make sense,” he said. “It’s strange that they use Canada Post and they ship to Prince Edward Island, but they don’t ship to Quebec.”

In the end, he gave up and went to another company to make photo gifts. Because he wanted to get it to his mother’s house in time for Christmas. He mailed it himself through Canada Post.

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He said it wasn’t a big surprise since he usually sends her photos of his two grandchildren, her great-grandchildren, during the holiday season, but he said the jigsaw puzzles were a nice twist on a holiday favorite. That’s what he thought.

The reason has to do with Quebec’s new language law (commonly known as Bill 96). Imposing stricter language requirements on businesses and cities. OthercCompanies like PetSmart and OtterBox have also stopped shipping to Quebec.

Based in Colorado in September otterbox said “Due to Bill 96 requiring French language support at all sales and marketing touchpoints, we are temporarily suspending shipments to Quebec, Canada. We will begin shipping to Quebec as soon as possible. We are working hard to comply with the provisions of this new law so that we can reopen.”

The Quebec government says the law is a modest response to the declining use of French in the province, particularly in Montreal.

London Drugs said in a statement to Postmedia on Saturday that it was a “difficult decision,” but due to various logistical challenges and working with legal advisors, the company moved to Quebec on Nov. 15. Shipping of the product has been discontinued.

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“While we respect the changes in laws and restrictions introduced by the Quebec government, we are unable to adapt to them at this time,” the statement said.

ticrawford@postmedia.com

—With files from Canadian Press

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