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Black market chocolate The products seem harmless enough: chocolate Easter bunnies and their foil-wrapped eggs. But with the commemoration of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection just around the corner, 'tis the season to set up shop in vacant storefronts and sell chocolate treats illegally. The problem, according to the city's Permits and Inspections department, is that these fast-buck entrepreneurs don't pay for permits, don't contribute to business taxes, don't pay merchant association dues, don't charge sales taxes and may be operating in sub-standard locales. Call it seasonal work. Like the mythical rabbit who disseminates sweets, these stores only exist to feed the Easter chocolate fixation. What to do? Snitch. Or so says the city of Montreal, anyhow. "Intervention consists of a rapid exchange of information from local merchant associations to [the city]," spokesperson François Lemay told the Mirror. He claimed that this annual occurrence is "not a real problem" but that the city cracks down on about 10 illegitimate chocolate vendors per year. --Dominique Ritter
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