A Prince Edward Island man who had almost 10,000 cans of pop seized in an Environment Department sting can't understand why the province is making such a fuss.

It is illegal to sell flavoured, carbonated beverages in cans on P.E.I. under a law that dates back to 1984, but it won't be on the books much longer. On May 1, the Island can ban will end.

Until May 1, canned pop sales in Prince Edward island will remain illegal.
(Associated Press)

"At this stage of the game, when they're going to be legalizing it in a couple of months, they could have given me perhaps a heads-up or a warning," Errol Waugh, who runs a bottle exchange in Kensington, told CBC News Wednesday.

Last week, when he heard people had been selling canned pop at the Jack Frost Festival in Charlottetown, Waugh decided to make a special off-Island trip. He brought back five pallets of Pepsi-Cola in his pickup — almost 10,000 cans.

On Tuesday, however, one of his customers turned out to be an undercover enforcement officer with the Environment Department. The canned pop bust was P.E.I.'s largest ever.

Waugh admits to having peddled cans on a small scale for some time now. Whenever he'd go to the mainland, Islanders would ask him to pick up some canned pop. He said he'd make about a dollar on each 12-pack.

"It would be different if I was peddling drugs or contraband cigarettes or this type of thing," said Waugh.

"Everybody wants the canned pop, and if they don't get it from me, they're going to go across and get it themselves."

Waugh was not alone this week in trying to get an early start on canned pop sales. Three warnings were issued Wednesday to retailers in downtown Charlottetown. They were given until the end of business Thursday to remove the product.

Unlike the Charlottetown retailers, Waugh could be fined $1,000. He is hoping instead that officials will eventually return the pop.

Waugh says he'll likely get out of the canned pop business when it becomes legal, since the novelty of canned pop will be but a memory.